KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has denied any backchannel talks or negotiations between Umno and PAS for the looming 15th general election (GE15), as claimed by the Islamist party’s president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.
Mohamad, who is Umno deputy president, told Utusan Malaysia that he is not aware of any individual within the party that had held talks with PAS.
He said all negotiations with any political party must be done through official meetings.
“I don’t know who he (Hadi) is talking to but definitely not with me.
“So please don’t complain about other parties and be mindful of your own party. I manage my party, you manage yours.
“All negotiations must be done in a transparent manner and not through covert talks, that is the way,” Mohamad told the Malay daily after attending a Merdeka event in Kuala Sawah, Rantau in Negri Sembilan earlier today.
He was responding to Hadi’s claim that there are ongoing negotiations between Umno and PAS ahead of GE15.
Hadi, who was speaking to the media after officiating the 68th PAS Muktamar in Alor Star yesterday, claimed that Umno was involved in such talks and was represented not only by its top leader but by an “organisation”.
However, Mohamad today said he had no knowledge on whether Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had empowered anyone else to negotiate with PAS.
“If the president had appointed someone to do so, it would have been done officially in a meeting.
“So, I have not heard from the president or anyone from the party of someone being tasked to negotiate with PAS,” Utusan quoted Mohamad as saying.
He reiterated his previous statement that Barisan Nasional (BN) will contest GE15 alone.
Various Umno leaders have rejected cooperation with PAS although the Islamist party is still trying to woo its partner in the informal Muafakat Nasional pact.
Umno’s refusal to work with PAS stems from the latter’s move to join the Perikatan Nasional coalition as a formal member.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post today, Zahid denied that BN’s insistence for the national polls to be held as soon as possible was because Umno was seeking to leverage the outcome to allow several of its leaders facing criminal trials to escape justice.
He, however, stressed that it was necessary for a stable government to be formed in order to resolve the ongoing political tumult since 2018, which had severely impacted the nation’s overall development.
“We ask for GE15 to be held immediately because we know of the efforts done by our enemies to manipulate the minds of the rakyat.
“They are concocting narratives to smear the reputation of BN leaders, like they did in GE14.
“They are desperate by clinging to what remains of their power to launch a new propaganda campaign,” said Zahid, without naming any parties specifically. – The Vibes, September 3, 2022
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