Talks of a Barisan Nasional component party or members of parliament switching camps to Pakatan Rakyat makes its rounds every few days. Another rumour which has been in circulation but out of the media spotlight has been the continuing Malay unity talks between Umno and PAS.

We've already discussed this issue in a previous podcast in which we argued that it was not in PAS' interest to cooperate with Umno. Shortly after the publication of our article, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang announced the suspension of future talks with Umno. But still, the rumours persist that at least some members and leaders within PAS continue to be interested in cooperating with Umno and are now aggressively pushing for it.

It's not hard to understand why.