PAS assistant secretary-general Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil said Nur Jazlan’s statement showed that Umno was aware of how difficult it was for the party to gain the support of Malay voters if it cooperated with DAP.

“That is what DAP needs to do because it knows that PAS has been attacking Umno (for cooperating with DAP) all along,” he was quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying at a ceramah last night.

Khairul said Umno would not have to deal with “DAP’s struggles” if it had collaborated with PAS through the Muafakat Nasional (MN) pact.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Nur Jazlan, who is an Umno Supreme Council member, said DAP must become a moderate party to prevent Malays from shifting their allegiance to PAS.

He urged DAP to drop “Malaysian Malaysia” from its party constitution, and said Malays were hesitant to fully support DAP because of its secular state agenda, which “contradicts Islamic and Malay principles”.