MELAKA: Any decision made by the main and technical committee of the charter involving the political cooperation between Umno and Pas can only be finalised by the respective parties' president.
Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this was to ensure the process of ta'awun siyasi (political cooperation) is continued at the level of the tahaluf siyasi (political agreement).
"Insya-Allah, the Umno-Pas Charter will be signed in the near future, then the main and technical committees formed before thus need to retain their respective committee members and chairman to enable them to continue with their tasks.
"However, the decisions made by the (main and technical) committee should be finalised by the President of Umno and the President of Pas," he said at the opening the delegates meeting of the Tangga Batu Umno Division in Klebang, here last night.
Present was Melaka Umno Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh and Tangga Batu Umno Division Chief, Mohamad Ali Mohamad.
Zahid said the charter between Umno and Pas was aimed at restoring the relations between the two parties that had been 'separated' since 1978 and at the same realise the Umno-Pas political collaboration.
"At that point in time (1978), Pas felt that Umno had betrayed them, despite the fact that it was not the case. After this have faith and trust, that we would never repeat it (betray Pas).
“Umno has also been punished for the act when it lost the last general election (GE), but now we are" in the same boat as Pas in the opposition block," he said.
Both Umno and Pas formalised their political cooperation on March 6. Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the two parties are "married" and will work on a political platform without attaching any conditions.
Umno and Pas were bitter political rivals for some six decades before the relationship between the two Malay-Muslim parties thawed in the aftermath of the 14th General Election. This was after Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the polls and ended up in the opposition aisle with Pas in Parliament.
Umno and BN together have 40 lawmakers in the Dewan Rakyat, while Pas has another 18 seats in the 222 seat lower House of Parliament.