FOR ONCE, NAZRI TACTFUL – BUT HIS WORDS STILL SALT IN KA SIONG’S WOUND: ‘I DON’T THINK PAS WILL JOIN BN – BUT IT’S UP TO MCA DELEGATES IF THEY WANT TO LEAVE BN’

PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional secretary-general Mohamed Nazri Aziz today agreed with MCA’s Wee Ka Siong that the inclusion of any new party would need the agreement of all component parties under the coalition.

He said MCA’s view would also be taken into account if there is any plan to include PAS in BN or any cooperation in the future.

“But for the time being, we are in the opposition side.

“We’re working together as an opposition bloc, so Umno’s cooperation with PAS is not a formal alliance.

“But if we are going to ask PAS to join BN, then we will discuss together with other component parties.

“However, I don’t think PAS will join BN,” he told FMT.

Earlier today, Wee, who is MCA deputy president, had threatened to cut ties with Umno should it form an alliance with PAS without first discussing the matter with the Chinese-based party.

Wee, who is also Ayer Hitam MP, said Umno or its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, cannot unilaterally make decisions on behalf of BN.

The former minister said the coalition had always sought consensus among its component partners, adding that BN’s fate didn’t lie in “Umno’s hands alone”.

He said with the BN, everything was still done through consensus, regardless of how many seats a component party had.

“If they cannot commit to mutual respect for their coalition partners as is expected and instead proceed to partner with PAS without prior discussions with MCA, then MCA will not hesitate to cut ties with Umno,” Wee said in a Facebook post

Nazri said it was still too soon for anyone to get excited over the prospect of a BN-PAS tie-up.

“Aside from the fact that we need to discuss any such idea with our BN allies, we also do not know if MCA will remain with BN after their party election.”

He said that he would be approaching MCA to have further discussions, right after the party is done with its party election next month, with the new president.

He said Wee’s rival for the presidency, former MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu, had already declared that he would take the party out of BN if he won.

“Even Wee said he would leave it to delegates. So, we don’t know if the delegates will want to remain with BN in the first place.”

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