Prime Minister Najib Razak doesn’t seem to be giving up hope for a possible culture of cooperation between his ruling Malay party UMNO and Malaysia’s second-largest Malay-Muslim party, PAS, as today he paid a visit to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang at Kuala Lumpur’s National Heart Institute (IJN).
The PM was actually at th IJN this morning to visit his former communications officer Nasir Safar, but learned of Hadi’s admission for treatment at the facility after the fact.
“I pray that he [Hadi] is blessed with the very best of health by Allah the Almighty,” Najib wrote on a post to his official Facebook page.
Najib and Hadi were last prominently seen together at a conference for Al-Azhar University alumni last month, shortly after Najib made explicit overtures to PAS during the UMNO General Assembly, calling for the two Malay-Muslim parties to set aside their differences and work together.
PAS has been increasingly isolated after it severed ties with its former partner in Pakatan Rakyat, DAP. While PKR, another former PR partner, is still attempting to reforge interparty cooperation between PAS and the members of the new Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition, the formation of Parti Amanah Negara by ex-PAS leaders and its continuing animosity with DAP does not signal positive vibes from PAS and the new opposition power structure.
Last week, PAS’s Syura Council declared that the Islamist party will not merge with UMNO or join the BN, but did not rule out cooperating with “any party” should a partnership be in the best interests of Islam in Malaysia.
