NO single ethnic community can govern Malaysia on its own, said Annuar Musa, as Umno’s alliance with PAS comes under attack for promoting Malay-Muslim interests.

The Umno secretary-general said that the newly formed PAS-Umno alliance must consider cooperating with political parties that cater to the interests of non-Muslims.  

“There is no single race that can run the country alone. We need to cooperate with everybody,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby today.

“The next step forward does not stop at the Umno-PAS cooperation. We have to look beyond Umno-PAS by also working with non-Muslim political parties,” he said, answering a question on how the new cooperation would play out in states controlled by both parties.

Barisan Nasional, through Umno and now PAS, oversees the state governments in Perlis, Pahang, Kelantan, and Terengganu.

“With regard to the Kedah and Perak state governments (under Pakatan Harapan), things will remain according to the status quo, as it depends on the elected representatives there.

“If they anticipate changes to take place, it is up to them, as PH presently has a slim (simple) majority simply because a few former BN assemblymen had crossed over,” he said.

Annuar also said that a 10-man technical committee will meet before the end of the month to discuss its future plans.

Umno and PAS recently announced their political “marriage” after joining forces at the recent Semenyih and Cameron Highlands state and parliamentary by-elections, which saw them defeat PH in both polls.

They won the Semenyih state seat from PH, which was the incumbent party. – March 13, 2019.