Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa has ticked off its Arau MP for suggesting a unity government between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bersatu and opposition parties Umno and PAS.
Saying that this was only Shahidan Kassim’s personal suggestion, Annuar tweeted last night that nobody in the Umno-PAS Muafakat Nasional pact nor BN supported such an idea.
“Unity government was the personal idea of Arau MP… No one supports it. The issue now is not unity but the trust of the people… The rakyat will still reject any government that…works with the enemy of religion and race.
“BN and Muafakat Nasional reject the idea of unity government mooted by Arau MP because the people do not want a party that lies, play tricks, throw empty promises, does not perform, cruel, as well as groups that are racist, anti-Islam, liberals, socialists, communists and so on,” Annuar tweeted via his tweet handle @AnnuarMusa.
His disapproval was in response to Shahidan’s suggestion yesterday that Pakatan Harapan chairperson Mahathir should form a unity government with the opposition bloc that comprises Umno and PAS if Mahathir wants to remain in power.
“I will support it if Tun (Mahathir) wants a strong government. He must pick those who are qualified (for a) a unity government,” Shahidan had told Malaysiakini.
The idea was proposed by Shahidan following Harapan’s crushing defeat in Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor last week, which saw its candidate from Bersatu trounced by MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng with a whopping majority of over 15,000 votes.
Shahidan’s call, however, was not the first time an Umno leader had wooed Mahathir to join forces with the opposition.
Early last month, its deputy president Mohamad Hasan urged Mahathir, who is also chairperson of Bersatu, to pull his party out of Pakatan Harapan and team up with Umno and PAS instead. – Malaysiakini