PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said that while the two parties may work together, this will not extend to a unification of PAS and Umno. — Picture by Farhan Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang told Umno that is courting his party, that it is “impossible” for the two to ever merge.

He said that while the two parties may work together, this will not extend to a unification of PAS and Umno.

“There will never be a united PAS and Umno party. Our ideologies are different. It is impossible,” The Star newspaper quoted him as saying in an undisclosed interview.

The two parties are jointly organising a rally to “give thanks” to the government’s decision to reject the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) this weekend.

The rejection of the treaty has become the latest common platform for the two parties.

Prior to the general election, Umno was already courting PAS by dangling support for the latter’s bid to enhance Shariah laws.

Since the Malay nationalist party’s defeat in Election 2018, however, it has come out openly to propose mergers with the former political rival.

PAS has repeatedly and openly snubbed Umno, but the latter continues to pursue this unrequited love.

Although Umno is technically the strongest Opposition party by virtue of its federal lawmaker numbers, it has not come to terms with its electoral defeat and appears bent on forming a partnership with PAS.

The Barisan Nasional coalition has all but disintegrated, with only the founding members of Umno, MIC, and MCA left in what was previously a 13-component alliance.