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Faced with ‘absurdity of politics’, UMNO plans to fight and befriend rivals at once
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UMNO’s involvement in the unity government has introduced a new dynamic to its relationship with the Democratic Action Party.
PHOTO: ZAHID HAMIDI/FACEBOOK
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- UMNO's 79th assembly highlighted the "absurdity of politics" with cooperation with DAP at federal level but opposition at state level.
- UMNO navigates contradictory strategies: planning to contest solo against DAP while in federal government, and pursuing Muslim unity pacts while rejecting a formal PAS alliance.
- Zahid seeks to unify Malay parties, welcomes defectors and appeals to MCA and MIC, while safeguarding Malay interests amid DAP's agenda concerns.
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KUALA LUMPUR – For decades, UMNO presidents have walked past a mural at the World Trade Centre depicting the rival Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) rocket logo piercing constitutional articles protecting Malay special rights – a symbol of political enmity.
What the party had not envisaged was governing alongside DAP at the federal and state levels, only to oppose it later in Sabah’s state election.
