Prime Minister Najib Razak urged PAS to dump the Pakatan Rakyat and join BN to foster Malay and Muslim unity, but he only managed to elicit expressions of exasperation and ridicule.
PAS leaders shook their heads in wonder at Najib's perceived aggression and told the Umno president not to be "thick-skinned". They pointed out that the way he was currently running Umno was a "slap in the face to the Malay community and an insult to Islam".
Indeed, the Umno elite in their bid to cling to power have unleashed a series of sex-based conspiracies that have shocked the conservative Malay community and angered Muslim leaders.
Najib in particular has gunned after Pakatan de-facto head Anwar Ibrahim, accusing him of sodomising a male personal aide and when that plot lost credibility, a sex video this time accusing Anwar of having sex with a prostitute was leaked to the public.
Anwar has denied the accusation and close-up shots show distinct differences in physique and facial features.
"If this is the strategy then I think it would backfire. As far as I am concerned if the intention is to drive a wedge between PAS and Pakatan, it is ineffective at its best. At the worst, for them that is, it will strengthen us even more," PAS MP for Kuala Selangor Dzulkefly Ahmad told Malaysia Chronicle.
"If you try to 'assassinate' someone let alone an Opposition Leader in such a despicable manner, it will not make us withdraw from Pakatan. We will defend the person involved because the tactics used to bring down someone like this is a vice especially if the person is continuously being made a target by BN and the media."
Bad motives
But Najib, who has often been accused of hearing what he wanted to hear, insisted on drilling into the Islamist party that it could not achieve its aims while partnering with DAP, one of the three components in the Pakatan coalition
PKR, DAP and PAS formed the Pakatan in 2008 following the landmark 2008 general election.
“Why play nice with DAP? Does DAP champion Islam?” Bernama reported Najib as saying in Kuala Terengganu today.
“(PAS president) Hadi Awang, enough of the DAP, leave the DAP, join BN.”
Some pundits believed Najib was also trying to stir up infighting in PAS, which is due to hold its annual congress and party polls in early June.
Umno has tried many times to get PAS to merge or join the coalition but has so far been rebuffed. Contrary to what has been reported in the government media, apart from Spiritual Adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat, PAS president Hadi Awang too have bad memories of Umno.
PAS had joined BN briefly in 1971 at Umno's urging, but withdrew after ties soured.
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