PETALING JAYA: Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Nor has hit back at Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after the Umno president accused PAS of having a hidden agenda for wanting to revive the partnership between the country’s two biggest Malay parties.
The PAS election director claimed that it was Zahid who was plotting behind the scenes following the formation of Muafakat Nasional (MN), an electoral pact between the two parties formed in 2019 to woo the Malay electorate.
Sanusi claimed that Zahid only came into the picture after the latter’s deputy, Mohamad Hasan, helped set up MN.
“He returned from his vacation and took control to ensure that MN was a pact between Umno and PAS.
“And this was not MN’s original goal, which is uniting all Muslims,” Sanusi said at a press conference in Wisma Darul Aman.
Last night, Zahid dismissed any talk of Umno reviving the MN alliance with PAS, saying that the Islamic party may have hidden agendas behind such a move.
He added that Umno also did not intend to revisit any partnership with “scheming” party leaders.
He was responding to a proposal by former Umno leader Tajuddin Abdul Rahman to revive MN.
PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the party was ready to work with Umno again via MN, claiming Umno members were still in favour of such an alliance but “not with leaders who were willing to team up with DAP”.
Sanusi today said that any political cooperation in the country would not succeed without PAS’s involvement as the party was a “kingmaker” in Malaysia’s political scene.
He said any attempts by Zahid to prolong his political career, which was in “critical condition”, would fail if PAS was not in the picture.
Mining SOP
On a separate note, Sanusi welcomed the soon-to-be-announced SOPs for mining rare earth elements (REE).
He said the state government will follow the mining SOP set by the natural resources, environment and climate change ministry.
“With the SOP in place, state governments can grant approvals based on that SOP. Thus, theft can be addressed,” he said, alluding to the spat between him and home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in the lead-up to the recent state elections.
Saifuddin had linked the theft of REE in the state to Sanusi.
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