PAS vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah speaks during Muktamar 2019 in Kuantan June 23, 2019. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — The cooperation among Perikatan Nasional (PN) parties is not a concrete relationship, but rather an impromptu alliance to save the country after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned in February, said PAS vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah.

Malaysiakini reported him as saying it was the parties, rather than their individual lawmakers, that decided to align and form the new government.

He was responding to requests for comment on Sabah Umno chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin’s earlier complaint about failed coordination between the parties in the state level.

“It is not the cooperation between MPs, because the MPs are bound by the party’s decision. Like us PAS, we are bound by the decision of PAS. The Umno people are bound by Umno party, if Umno says not to join (PM), how can it join?

“This is not just a concrete bond, because at that time I might say it was an ad hoc alliance to save the situation when Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned, the country had no government.

“So we saved the situation at that time. PAS, Umno and BN parties had to make an immediate decision and Perikatan Nasional was born. We don’t know where the name Perikatan Nasional came from.

“But actually (PN was formed) to save the country from political corruption. There may be political changes in the future but for now we do not know,” he said as reported by Malaysiakini in Kota Bahru today.

Bung, who is also the Kinabatangan MP, said earlier today that PN was formed due to cooperation between individual elected representatives and not on the basis of common policy.

In a special programme Khas Bersama Pengerusi Umno Sabah, which was broadcast live on the Facebook page of Dr Noor Azizan Abdul Majid, who moderated, Bung said that this was one of the main reasons why PN had failed to coordinate at the state level

Yesterday, Bung reportedly said there was dissatisfaction with the party in Sabah over the federal government for not having a seat in the cabinet.

Previously, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi reportedly penned a letter to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin asking for several Sabah Umno leaders to be appointed to lead government agencies.

Sabah Umno is perceived to have tense relations with Sabah Bersatu, which was formed by many defectors from Umno.

PN officially became the new government when Muhyiddin was sworn in as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister on March 1, following a week-long political turmoil that saw the wisdom of Yang di-Pertuan Agong called upon.

The coalition consisted of Umno, Bersatu and PAS and are accompanied in the coalition by MCA, MIC, GPS and a bloc led by PKR’s former deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali’s faction of 10 lawmakers.

Bersatu’s inclusion in PN was preceded by its withdrawal from Pakatan Harapan (PH), which effectively became the Opposition bloc with its remaining parties PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara.