Ketereh Member of Parliament Tan Sri Annuar Musa speaks to reporters at Parliament March 13, 2019. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa conceded that no ethnic community in Malaysia is capable of governing the country by itself, notwithstanding his party’s alliance with PAS in the name of Malay-Muslim interests.

He said this was why the two must consider cooperation with other political parties, particularly those catering to non-Muslims and non-Malays.

“In this country, there is no one single race can run the country, we need to cooperate with everybody,” he told reporters in Parliament today.

He was responding to questions about the intent of both parties to form unity governments in states where this would be possible, leading to administrations that would be completely or overwhelmingly Malay.

The two Opposition parties announced a formal alliance and their plan to cooperate in states they already govern, such as Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang, among others.

The cooperation could also jeopardise Pakatan Harapan’s hold in Kedah and Perak.

“With respect to Kedah and Perak state governments, it will remain status quo, as it all depends on the members of the state assembly.

“If they anticipate some sort of changes are to take place, it is up to them as at the moment they have a very slim, a simple majority with few former Barisan Nasional assemblymen who crossed over,” he said.

Annuar revealed a 10-men technical committee comprising five leaders each from PAS and Umno has been formed and will meet before the end of the month to discuss their roadmap going forward.

He said the committee will consider the entire country’s political landscape when conducting their studies on how the cooperation can move forward.

“They will discuss a roadmap for the cooperation, which is at a very early stage.

“We need to streamline and have a very clear roadmap that is agreed by both parties on how we can implement the cooperation,” he said

The union between Malay nationalist Umno and Islamist PAS is raising concerns over the possibility their appeal to the Malay-Muslim community could push the country back to polarising communal politics.