KUALA LUMPUR: The Muafakat Nasional charter which seeks closer political cooperation between the two former political foes is expected to be formalised by the middle of next year.
Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the formalisation would be made at the Muafakat Nasional convention to be held by next May.
“Before May we will organise a convention on Muafakat Nasional. At that convention, we will officially formalise Muafakat Nasional,” he said in his winding-up speech at Umno’s 73rd general assembly here today.
Zahid, in his speech, did not elaborate on whether Muafakat Nasional would be ‘formalised’ into a formal coalition or otherwise.
He attributed the success of the Muafakat Nasional charter to the chemistry between the two Malay-dominant political parties, which had been in existence for a long time.
“Previously, Pas has had many experiences which saw the party joining several political cooperation such as the Pakatan Alternatif and Pakatan Rakyat (with PKR and DAP)”.
Zahid said it took Pas several months before they agreed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding when it came to their previous political alliances.
“However, it only took Pas about two hours for the party to agree and sign the Muafakat Nasional (political agreement) with Umno,” he said.
Zahid also reiterated that Umno, through Muafakat Nasional, would not recapture Putrajaya via the backdoor manoeuvre, which cropped up following the alleged meeting between Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs with Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali last month.
“Do not believe stories that you read in the social media or being spread by ‘batu api’ (instigators) on negotiations allegedly held between an individual and our MPs to form a backdoor government.
“In fact, together with Pekan (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) and Gua Musang (Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), we have met the MP at a hotel in Kampung Baru sometime ago and they assured that they will continue to support Umno and BN.
“We have also decided that we are going to adopt an ‘en bloc’ approach in whatever we undertake in the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zahid, who is also BN chairman, said he was confident that Umno can pull-off the same feat in Kimanis, as it did in Tanjung Piai.
“During the previous general election, we managed to retain the seat with a slim majority of 158 votes. Our candidate (Datuk Seri Anifah Aman) eventually became an independent MP after winning the seat.
“However, we are confident of winning the seat especially under the leadership of Sabah Umno Liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Bung Mukhtar Radin.
“It is very timely that the party has also amended its constitution to give Sabah Umno full autonomy to chart its political direction,” he said.