NewzFrom Terence NettoUmno’s deputy president Mohamad Hasan (Tok Mat) deserves credit for urging on the party a stance that, to put it broadly, was middle-of-the-road.He espoused this position in his policy address to the youth, Wanita and Puteri wings of the party.It was not an easy position to take at a time when rightist voices are shrill within the party such that a disinclination to take the tub-thumping and cymbals-clashing ones would put an exponent on the outs with the muscle flexing crowd.Not only did Tok Mat reach for the middle octaves, he asserted Umno should not alienate the non-Malays on the Peninsula and its friends in Sabah and Sarawak.This is the sane middle path that is more recognisably Umno than the leanings of the party towards the ethno-centricism that characterised the Mahathir era (1981-2003).There are no prizes for guessing who Tok Mat was referring to when he cautioned in his policy address: “You cannot impose your conservative and radical ideology on Umno.”Although he did not mention names, his suggestion of a test of sincerity of PAS’s desire to collaborate with Umno in state polls and in the general election (GE16) to come was shrewd.He proposed that PAS dissolve the Terengganu state assembly and allow Umno to contest half the seats in the snap poll.PAS won 27 state and 7 parliamentary seats the last time that voters in the state went to the polls.It was a wipeout for Umno.It would be too much to expect that Umno would simply concede Terengganu to PAS at the next election as part of a collaboration with the Islamist party though that seems to be the drift of the rhetoric emanating from the mullahs.PAS appears keener than Umno on having such a collaboration.Hence Tok Mat's proposed test of PAS’s sincerity that they dissolve the Terengganu state assembly and allow Umno to contest a number of the state seats is not an outlandish proposition.Unless of course PAS harbours hegemonistic intentions and considers Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis as their fiefdom, and as such off limits to Umno.Given that Tok Mat has used the occasion of Umno’s general assembly to reiterate that his party rejects conservative and radical leanings in its ideology and following this up with a proposed test of PAS’s sincerity on electoral collaboration, the ball is in the Islamic party’s court, so to speak.It would be interesting to see how PAS reacts to t… PAS’s statement that it would contest all seats in its stable and that it already has a candidate for prime minister could have irked Umno, prompting party deputy president Mohamad Hasan to propose early elections in Terengganu.PETALING JAYA: Umno’s proposal for PAS to call for an election in Terengganu to prove its sincerity in the push for Malay unity could be attributed to its distrust of the Islamic party, an analyst said.These trust issues, according to Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, likely stemmed from remarks made by PAS leaders at its recent muktamar on the post of prime minister and seats to contest.PAS declared it wanted to defend seats it won in previous elections, basing its claim on the incumbency formula, and leading the federal government as well as revealing it had a candidate for prime minister, he said.The remark could have irked Umno, Mazlan said.Mazlan Ali.“I think Tok Mat’s statement implies that Umno does not fully trust PAS,” he told FMT, referring to Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan.Mohamad had on Saturday mooted the idea, adding that if the two parties could agree on a formula for seat negotiations in Terengganu, a similar approach could be adopted for the next general election.Mohamad’s PAS counterpart, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man shot down the idea on Sunday.Mazlan felt that Umno was asking “too much” of PAS by suggesting that an election be held to prove its sincerity.“As it stands the two parties have not formalised their partnership and only consider whatever pact they have as an ‘understanding’,” he said.Separately, Lau Zhe Wei of International Islamic University Malaysia said Umno is aware it would not gain seats if the incumbency formula was used in a PAS-Umno partnership in any election, especially in Terengganu where PAS and its Perikatan Nasional partner Bersatu hold all 32 state and eight parliamentary seats.Lau Zhe Wei.However, Lau cautioned that Mohamad’s suggestion would backfire, as questions would be posed regarding Umno’s commitment to the Malay unity agenda in Melaka, where Barisan Nasional has already declared its intentions to defend the 21 seats it won in the 2021 state elections.PAS failed to win any seat in the 28-seat Melaka assembly.“If we were to use the same principle in Melaka, shouldn’t Umno make way for PAS in some seats?” he said, adding that Umno could not have its cake and eat it too.“Giv…
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