Umno Kedah sedia bincang dengan PAS, bukan ‘parti kucing’ dalam PN

Kuala Lumpur: Umno Kedah has named PAS as a party for political cooperation talks ahead of the 2016 General Election and has ruled out joining Perikatan Nasional (PN). Shaiful Hazizy Zainal Abidin, Umno Kedah's public relations chief, announced that Umno Kedah will begin dialogue with PAS but not with PN. He explained that they will start with a cup of coffee with PAS, but not with PN because in PN there is a "cat party," a newly formed party that was established just two days ago.

Shaiful also mentioned that the term "cat party" was used by PAS Deputy General Secretary Sanusi Nor during his latest annual meeting. On September 5th, Sanusi had announced that PAS does not want to cede seats that could be won by other parties in the upcoming election, stating that PAS has been struggling for too long with a strength and support that has not been fully translated into political power.

Sanusi also said that PAS needs to stop feeling inferior when discussing with other parties, emphasizing that PAS, given its long political history and great strength, should not join a newly formed party. In the same development, Umno Deputy President Mohamad Hasan informed the press that Umno Kedah is free to conduct any cooperation talks at the state level as Umno cannot use a one-size-fits-all formula for all states.

He added that whatever discussions they have, they need to bring them to the attention of the headquarters and it is time for the headquarters management to investigate each of the cooperation discussions conducted, according to PAU 2026.