No more Muafakat Nasional in Terengganu, says Umno leader

(FMT) – Terengganu Umno chief Ahmad Said says there is no such thing as “muafakat” (understanding) between the party and PAS in the state despite both parties being partners at the national level through Muafakat Nasional (MN) since September 2019.

Ahmad said this was evidenced when the PAS-led Terengganu government left out Umno assemblymen, including himself, from receiving a RM10 million allocation by the federal government.

“Terengganu is the most ‘yo-yo’ (up and down) state. We believe that because of the current situation, the people will come back to Umno. The people are also asking when will there be a change in government.

“What more, in Terengganu I can say this muafakat is not present despite Terengganu being the only state with 94% Malay voters.

“We see that PAS has not acted fairly towards Umno. After MN, what we see with PAS is that when the RM10 million allocation was given to the state for the assemblymen to distribute to the people, I did not receive anything,” he said.

The former Terengganu menteri besar was speaking at an online forum titled “bersahabat biar jujur” (be honest when you are friends) on Umno Online held in conjunction with the Umno general assembly.

Ahmad added, in the meantime, PAS assemblymen received allocations of RM350,000 to be distributed to the people while in areas where PAS lost, the respective state assembly officer also received the same amount.

“I made noise. I said if these were funds from PAS then I wouldn’t mind but they are allocations from the federal government, which includes both Umno and PAS. So, why didn’t we get any allocation (from the RM10 million)?”

He said that the PAS information secretary, who is also a state exco, had announced that these allocations were not for PAS or Umno assemblymen but instead was “the people’s right”.

“Then if it is their right, why not distribute it equally? Some are secretly giving out assistance.

“The menteri besar had come to see me and instead spoke about the appointments of village chiefs. Several days later, I received a letter from the district office stating that the allocation to Umno is only RM45,000. This is what people don’t know,” he added.

Ahmad further claimed that no agenda was adopted nor any decision made in the state MN meeting but instead they only had “makan dan minum saja” (refreshments) despite Terengganu having been the first state to hold a MN gathering after the decision at the national level.

“(PAS) has never been sincere (or) honest. A PAS exco declared in Kemaman that PAS will defend all the (state) seats it won (in the 14th general election). The menteri besar later announced in Dungun that they will defend six out of the eight parliamentary seats.

“No discussions were held, nothing was done and yet he came out with such a statement,” he said.

Last month, Ahmad said Terengganu Umno will not give way to PAS and PPBM who had expressed their intentions to contest all the MP and state seats in the coming general election.

He added there will be no cooperation in MN with PAS in the state nor with the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

In the last general election (GE14) in May 2018, PAS won 22 out of the 32 state seats with Umno taking the rest. Of the eight parliamentary seats, PAS took six while Umno won two.