The royal and customary crisis in Negeri Sembilan has not affected PAS’s efforts to cooperate with Umno in the Melaka state election, despite the potential political fallout for both parties, an analyst says.
Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia cited PAS’s willingness to work with Umno in Melaka, including its readiness to use the Barisan Nasional (BN) logo, as evidence that the cooperation remains important to the Islamic party.
‘It (PAS) still sees cooperation with Umno as important and is not trying to distance itself,’ he told FMT.
Mazlan said voters were not uniformly blaming BN or Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the crisis, with perceptions differing between urban and rural voters, as well as among fence-sitters.
Crisis not necessarily a threat to BN-PN ties
Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya said differing views on the Negeri Sembilan crisis did not necessarily mean the relationship between BN and PN would fracture.
‘Umno has room to explain its position and responsibilities openly without dismissing differing views among its partners,’ he said.
PAS and BN agree in principle to cooperate
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said yesterday that PAS and BN had reached an agreement in principle to cooperate in the Nov 14 Melaka state election.
However, seat allocation and candidate selection were still being discussed.
Negeri Sembilan exco appointments revoked
PAS’s Serting assemblyman Fairuz Isa was a member of the Negeri Sembilan state executive council under menteri besar Ismail Lasim.
His appointment, along with those of nine other exco members, was revoked on Sept 21 by Negeri Sembilan ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir.
The move followed the councillors’ declaration that the ruler’s removal in April was legitimate and their recognition of Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Jaafar as the new ruler.
