KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's two major opposition parties inked a formal pact for cooperation on Saturday, ending decades of political rivalry and posing a potential challenge to the incumbent government.
Former ruling party United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) singed the agreement to formalize their cooperation.
In his speech, UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his party had common ground with PAS as UMNO focused on Malay-centric agenda, with the Malays being predominantly Muslim, while PAS focused on an Islamic agenda.
Malaysia's ethnic Malays majority receive affirmative-action privileges, such as housing discounts and preferential access to education and business, meant to tackle income inequalities, although critics say the policies have bred resentment among the country's Chinese and Indian minorities and have stifled competitions.
Also present were PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, former Prime Minister and UMNO president Najib Razak as well as top brass from both parties, joined by several thousand supporters to witness the signing of the charter of cooperation.
The two parties had cooperated in several by-elections this year.
Azmi Hassan from University of Technology Malaysia said the alliance would be a serious challenge to the current Pakatan Harapan (PH) government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, which took power in the national poll last year.
The electoral results saw the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lose power for the first time since Malaysia's independence in 1957, leaving BN in disarray.
"This pact no doubt will change the political scenario since UMNO is synonymous with Malays struggle while PAS is associated with Islam. Combine these two factors is considered a sure winning combination," he said.
But Azmi warned that the pact needs to include other race-based parties to have a meaningful impact on Malaysia's multi-racial and multi-religious society.
