Nik Aziz says it again: No to cooperation with UMNO

Harakahdaily,

20 June 2013

Jun 20: PAS Murshidul Am Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has again squashed any suggestions for the Islamic party to cooperate with UMNO, and urged anyone with such thoughts to stop dreaming.

“To me, the Islam propagated by UMNO is artificial Islam. As long as UMNO’s policy is about race, there is nothing good about UMNO’s actions even though they may look pro-Islam,” said Nik Aziz in comments made available to Harakahdaily.

He was responding to a pro-UMNO academic Dr Zainal Kling, a member of the government-backed National Professors Council.

Writing in his column in Sinar Harian today, Zainal said PAS and UMNO should forge cooperation for the sake of Islam, and argued no other parties beside UMNO was championing Islam.

But Nik Aziz rubbished Zainal’s statement as baseless, and cited several actions by UMNO leaders.

“Maybe UMNO’s decision to allow gambling dens in Kelantan prior to 1990 (when PAS came to power) had been part of the Islamic struggle from the perspective of this brilliant individual?" chided the former Kelantan Menteri Besar.

"In Melaka, there was a chief minister from UMNO’s top leadership who suggested entertainment centres be allowed to operate in the wee hours of the morning, maybe this too is about struggling for Islam?”

Nik Aziz questioned the benefits of PAS cooperating with UMNO.

“If UMNO’s advantage is about the number of seats, then may I propose that all UMNO state assemblymen in Kelantan join PAS because PAS has higher number of seats compared to UMNO,” he added.

Last month, Nik Aziz vowed to fight any attempt in the party to forge alliance between PAS and UMNO.

“I will not allow it, as long as I am alive, I will never allow any effort to forge cooperation between PAS and UMNO," he told Harakahdaily.

Related:
PAS-UMNO alliance? Over my dead body, says Nik Aziz