PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) says the Umno-PAS alliance is geared towards ensuring the return of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as a leader and absolving him of his alleged crimes.
In a blogpost, Dr Mahathir questioned why PAS leaders were willing to work with Umno and Najib, who is facing a slew of corruption and abuse of power charges, and if they believed the former Prime Minister was innocent.
“It is true Najib has not yet been found guilty because his trial has not been held yet, but will Najib be accepted as a leader by PAS if he is found guilty?
“For the sake of the unity of Malays and Islam, can corruption, abuse of power and crimes be permitted?”
Dr Mahathir said many Umno members left the party because of kleptocracy and he questioned whether the PAS leaders realised this.
Surely, he said, the PAS leaders also know that several renowned banks have been shut down, and their officers charged for their involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
Dr Mahathir said PAS should also realise the repercussions of working with Najib and Umno.
“Have PAS no shame in accepting Najib as their ‘boss’?” he asked.
Dr Mahathir also cast doubt on PAS’ promises, saying the Islamist party’s leaders had given their word to support him as the Prime Minister and that they would not campaign for Barisan Nasional in the recent Semenyih by-election.
Yet, on nomination day, the party showed their support for BN’s candidate.
“Is this how PAS keeps its promise?” he asked.
He said PH was not worried about PAS and Umno’s cooperation and that it provided a lot of opportunities to expose that lying is “mandatory” for the two parties.
On Tuesday, at a joint press conference with PAS’ top leaders, Umno’s acting President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan announced the formalisation of cooperation between the two parties.
Describing their cooperation as a “marriage”, Mohamad said Umno and PAS would work together as a united opposition bloc in Parliament and in future by-elections.
