KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has poured cold water on Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s claim that Umno is to be blamed for the failed attempt to form a cooperation with PAS and Bersatu that would have secured a comfortable election victory.
The Umno president instead accused the two political outfits of alleged backstabbing after his party first extended an olive branch to them.
This is following Muhyiddin’s remark yesterday that the three parties would have won comfortably in the coming election if Muafakat Nasional (MN) had been formalised, which Umno objected after initially proposing the idea.
“That is only a hypothesis and fatamorgana (illusion). We once offered an olive branch to both (PAS and Bersatu), but our hand got bitten,” he told a press conference after officiating the Puteri Barisan Nasional (BN) convention, here, today.
“In fact, something was done to our hand to the point of breaking. But we rebuilt our own strength, and Umno and BN will prove this in the election.”
Zahid, however, stopped short of elaborating what he meant by his statement.
Speaking at a Perikatan Nasional event in Terengganu yesterday, Muhyiddin, who is Bersatu president, had said that his party had received an invitation from Umno and PAS to join MN after he became prime minister in 2020.
He said while he agreed to the proposal, this failed to materialise after Umno later rejected the idea.
Muhyiddin added that had MN been formalised, he was convinced the three parties would have been able to secure a two-thirds majority in the coming poll.
On a separate question, Zahid today acknowledged that Umno will have to consider a post-election pact with rival parties in order to form a government, insinuating that his party would not be able to win a simple majority.
“Politics is dynamic. However, it is better if any effort to translate this dynamic (to cooperate with other parties) be done after the election.
“If we form a pre-election cooperation, every party will be claiming they are the stronger one, even though their strength may have diminished.”
He was asked to comment on his speech at the convention earlier, where he said the party should be prepared to adopt a new formula to ensure political stability after the conclusion of the election.
“Put aside any political, racial, and cultural differences. For the sake of the country, we must be colour blind when it comes to politics,” he said. – The Vibes, July 31, 2022
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