Umno offered PAS to jointly rule S'gor
Malaysiakini.com
Jul 21, 2008
Rahmah Ghazali

Days after the political tsunami swept across the nation on March 8, Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and PAS leaders huddled together in a building in Kuala Lumpur for a secret meeting.
MCPX

The official agenda was to discuss issues concerning Islam and the Malays.

But according to a PAS leader who attended the two-hour meeting two or three days after the general elections which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional losing five states, the main topic was the possibility of power sharing.

khir toyo 181207PAS committee member Abdul Khalid Samad told Malaysiakini that Khir (left) had proposed during the meeting that Umno and PAS form a joint government to rule Selangor.

The state, which was once a BN fortress, was among the states that had fallen into the hands of the opposition.

Willing to be deputy MB

Khalid, who could not remember if the meeting took place on March 10 or 11, said Khir had hinted that he was willing to become deputy menteri besar if Selangor PAS commissioner Dr Hassan Ali is made menteri besar.

"They (Umno) made this suggestion not knowing that we had already backed the proposal to name (current menteri besar) Khalid Ibrahim for the top post," he said.

Also present at the meeting were PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa and the party’s Terengganu commissioner Mustafa Ali.

abdul khalid samadKhalid (right), who is also the MP for Shah Alam, further claimed that the meeting was coloured with a racial agenda - to halt the predominantly Chinese DAP from making inroads into the Selangor government.

He said Umno wanted to work with PAS to stop DAP from securing positions in the state’s executive council.

"Khir said (at the meeting) this was one of the solutions to overcome the problems facing Islam and the Malays," he added.

selangor state seat 2008 breakdownEven with PAS's eight seats, a Umno-MCA-PAS coalition will have 28 seats, equal to the PKR-DAP haul. This may result in an impasse on which coalition can form government.

Denying that PAS harboured any intention of cooperating with its rival, Khalid said the main objective of holding the talks was to persuade Umno to join the Islamic-based opposition party.

"The talks on Islam and the Malays however were just part of the meeting but our main objective was to attract them to join us," he added.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Umno held three top-leadership meetings with PAS to discuss the situation of Islam and Malays in the country. However, he declined to elaborate.

Last night, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang also confirmed that talks took place between the two parties.

Ties with Pakatan unaffected

Meanwhile, Khalid said the meeting was requested by Umno and PAS decided to play along because the party practiced an open policy.

Initially, Hadi and Hassan were supposed to be part of the discussions but this was opposed by the PAS central committee.

"The committee members were against their involvement as they have the power to make decisions, so I had to replace Hassan while Hadi was replaced by Mustafa," said Khalid.

barisan rakyat pakatan rakyat pkr dap pas leadersHowever, Khalid was not present at the subsequent meetings and is in the dark over what had transpired.

The PAS leader also stressed that the talks with Umno would not affect the party’s relationship with the other Pakatan Rakyat partners.

"BN is no longer as strong as before and they need support (from us), so the question whether or not the talks would affect our relationship in Pakatan does not arise," he said.

Met earlier in PAS' Harakah office in Kuala Lumpur, Mustafa was tightlipped about the meetings.

Copyright © 1999-2007 Mkini Dotcom Sdn. Bhd.
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/86505