Asmara PAS-Umno, siapa guna siapa?

Since recently, the author has greatly admired PAS as a political party. It's not because PAS is skilled in regional governance, nor because it excels in prayer, but because the party is highly clever and cunning. Many see the National Front's recent victories in PRN in Johor and Negeri Sembilan as evidence of Umno's resurgence, but that's not entirely true.

Umno isn't as strong as it appears, as it needs to rely on Perikatan Nasional, which offers supporters and can be Umno's second-fiddle. However, the author argues that PAS is actually using Umno, using the phrase "PAS riding on Umno" or "PAS making Umno shine." The author provides several examples to support this claim.

Firstly, the author looks at the PRN in Johor. PAS has long tried to challenge Umno, but President Zahid Hamidi isn't very enthusiastic. So, what does PAS do? It leads PN discussions with a facade and offers party members' support to Umno while taking votes away from DAP and PH. PAS offers its voters in a way that isn't too generous. Umno, which is already strong, accepts it without much thought, as it owes its existence to PAS. Very shrewd and effective politics, the author salutes PAS!

Secondly, the author examines PRN Nagri. PAS agrees to accept a few seats offered by Umno. This is clever because a new party can't gain support from the two largest Malay parties and thus can't win more seats than Malays in its own party. It's likely that BN can win, but once again, Umno is indebted to PAS. Clever, clever. Thirdly, the most significant point is who raised the issue of racial concerns?

The author believes that Umno is often attacking DAP like a rabid dog at night, but PAS, through the interpretation of Imam Hadi Awang, presents Malay-Islam power as Malaysia's savior. In PRN Nagri, Sanusi's comments about China and India show a lack of understanding of Malaysia's demographics. Zahid's anger in removing Sanusi from Kedah doesn't change the fact that Sanusi helped Umno greatly by getting Malay voters excited to support Umno and PN. So, once again, Umno is indebted to PAS and PN.

The author then looks at Melaka. PAS has now offered various things, demanding a pound of flesh. It might want half of Melaka's seats. Zahid says no, but Hadi says it's a personal opinion by Zahid. Wow! PAS can twist the words of the Umno president like that! This shows who is really in charge! Lokman Nor Adam doesn't trust cooperation between Umno and PAS.

His reason is that if PAS doesn't mention seats, PAS can't be trusted in Kelantan, Kedah, and Terengganu. The author agrees with Lokman's view. So far, PAS has only played in the southern states where it hasn't been strong. So, let's see who is really leading this partnership between BN and PN. In the author's opinion, PAS has been deliberately offering and slightly compromising in the discussion as part of the BN-PN partnership.

However, there is one politician besides Hadi in this partnership. His name is Hamzah Zainuddin. He is busy trying to rename the partnership to Perikatan Barisan Nasional. Zahid strongly rejects this, but looking at this suggestion, the author starts to see who the real player is in PAS-Umno BFF (Best Friend Forever). It seems that all these games are orchestrated by Hamzah's mind, making him the real mastermind behind PAS-Umno BFF.

The author believes that Hadi might be the mastermind behind PAS-Umno, while Hamzah is behind the scenes. The author has written about this possibility in a previous article. Regardless, the author believes that Umno has been played by PAS, and the puppet master is none other than Hamzah. This article is the author's perspective and does not necessarily represent FMT.