SHAH ALAM - Former Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil challenges Umno President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to conduct a referendum involving more than three million party members to determine whether they prefer cooperation with the Muafakat Nasional (MN) alongside Pas or to be allies with DAP in the Unity Government.
He said this as he believed that Umno leaders who rejected cooperation with DAP were only a few individuals with personal interests such as the Deputy Prime Minister and a group of individuals who were supporters of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According to him, if the voting process was carried out at the grassroots level of Umno, the majority of them were believed to be more comfortable cooperating with Pas compared to DAP.
"I once asked Zahid to conduct a referendum among Umno members to determine whether they are comfortable with DAP or not. He didn't want to do it.
"Now, when the issue of reviving MN arises, the Umno President is trying to find three million party members' signatures to support the pardon demands of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib (Razak).
"Go ahead and conduct a referendum to determine whether the grassroots prefer cooperation with Pas through MN or with DAP, if he dares," he told Sinar Premium on Monday.
He said this in response to Zahid's statement characterising Pas' suggestion to revive cooperation between the two parties through MN as insincere.
Previously, Pas Mursyidul Am Datuk Hashim Jasin, when contacted by Sinar Premium, expressed confidence that MN relations between Umno-Pas could be rekindled in the run-up to the 16th General Election (PRU16).
In the meantime, Isham believes that Zahid's accusation that Pas was not sincere in defending MN cooperation with Umno was not accurate, based on the party's current influence, which was evidently stronger than Umno.
"I see Pas as more sincere now. They have more Members of Parliament than Umno, and the party itself is the most dominant in PN and controls the Malay voter segment that is increasingly leaving Umno.
"When someone stronger wants to offer something to Umno, the party appears arrogant if they outright reject it.
"With Zahid himself not obtaining the mandate of Umno grassroots as the party president because the main position was not contested in the Umno election, I believe he has been talking about MN and the future of Umno for his own interests rather than the party's interests," he said.
Want the latest news faster? Let's join Sinar Harian's WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va4iEylEgGfDYSCqPJ28