PAS and Umno members are prepared to put the bitter history between their two parties behind to come together for what they said is a bigger cause – to unite Malays and defeat Pakatan Harapan.

PAS members said they’re still suspicious of Umno but are willing to risk betrayal and assume the intentions of their former rivals to cooperate are pure.

Umno members said the signing of a political charter with PAS is historic because it is the realisation of a long-held dream to unite Malays under one political banner.

The two parties, which have been bitter rivals for close to 40 years, will sign a charter today to cooperate in the 15th general election.  

The theme for the new pact is Penyatuan Ummah (Muslim unity) and reflects PAS and Umno’s political narrative that the fate of Islam and Malays is threatened by PH.

The two parties, the country’s largest by membership, believe that they can seize federal power by pooling their support base among the Malays, who make up 60% of voters.

PAS and Umno held joint programmes and ceramah at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday ahead of today’s signing ceremony.

“There are people who tell us, if you help Umno, they will stab you in the back once they get back power,” said Taufik Sobri, a Kedah PAS grassroots member who travelled to Kuala Lumpur to attend the rally yesterday.

“But whether that happens is not important. To me, what is important is the purity of the intention. We are doing this to unite Muslims and to uplift the status of Islam,” Taufik said. 

PAS worked with Umno when it joined Barisan Nasional in 1972. But the Islamist party left the coalition in 1977 after it accused Umno of mounting a coup against the PAS-led Kelantan government in 1977.

Since then, the two parties have fought bitterly for the Malay vote, with PAS leaders even branding Umno as infidels.

Azwan Kamarulzaman of Gombak PAS said he could forgive Umno for all its wrongs against PAS.

“I am willing to forgive and forget all that history in the interest of Islam and the Malays. We want Islam to lead the country as the majority of people in this country are Malays and Muslims.”    

Sabah Umno leader Bung Moktar Radin did not expect that he would see the day the two parties would come together after being at each other’s throats for four decades.  

“This is the silver lining when Umno and PAS lost in the last general election. It gave Malays and Muslims the awareness to come together.”  

Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said he had to put aside his anger towards PAS so that he can forge ahead with them.

“If you want to talk about how angry I am at PAS, I could talk the whole night. God knows how angry I am at them for the things they’ve said about us,” Asyraf said.

“The PAS Youth chief can probably do the same and talk about Umno. But I have to put all that behind me in order to move forward.”  

Mohd Nazari Mokhtar, the PAS candidate in the Port Dickson by-election, said the cooperation between both parties had been pursued by certain PAS leaders in the past but the idea was scuttled by others in the party.

“Coincidentally, Umno and PAS lost in the general election, so we can come together and work for the future of Malays and Islam.”

Although the theme for the PAS-Umno pact was Malay and Muslim unity, the political coalition would not sideline non-Muslims, said Umno Youth exco member Wan Muhanmad Azri Wan Deris

“I believe that tomorrow (today), Umno and PAS leaders will offer good news for, not just Malays, but Chinese and Indians, so that they understand what is Muslim unity.” – September 14, 2019.