Despite Umno's mockery, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin is the undisputable "poster boy" for Perikatan Nasional, Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan declared.
However, Wan Saiful said, the same cannot be said for Umno and its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Wan Saiful (above) took aim at several Johor Umno leaders, including Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who have taken aim at Muhyiddin.
"They keep asking if we dare to use Muhyiddin as our poster boy in the Johor polls. What logic is this? We have always used Muhyiddin as our poster boy from the very beginning. There are no doubts about that.
"He is the symbol of a fighter who willingly lost his positions in order to restore the country's integrity.
"I want to respond to a number of (Umno) people in Johor who keep challenging us on Muhyiddin. I challenge Puad, Nur Jazlan and Khaled. If you dare, name Umno's prime ministerial candidate after the 15th general election," he said during a ceramah in the Kahang state seat in Sembrong, Johor, last night.
Wan Saiful asked if Umno would dare to name Zahid, who has been ordered by the courts to enter his defence over corruption charges, as their prime ministerial candidate.
"If you are cowards and don't dare to name Zahid, then don't keep harping on our Bersatu president.
"We are confirmed on inviting Muhyiddin (to campaign in Johor) and respectfully use him as our poster boy. If you (Umno) dare, then plaster Zahid's face at every corner of Johor. Do you dare or not?" he challenged Umno.
Wan Saiful added that it was not clear whether Zahid or Najib Abdul Razak, who has been convicted of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust, was in charge of Umno.
"Is the Umno president Zahid or Najib? If you plaster Zahid's picture, Najib may get angry but if you plaster Najib's picture, (Umno will) certainly lose (the Johor polls).
"Your president is someone who the court has found a prima facie case against for misuse of funds and he must answer in court or face prison. Please paste his posters everywhere," Wan Saiful said.
'Pressing button'
He also refuted Umno's claim that Muhyiddin had threatened the stability of the Johor government.
This was in reference to Muhyiddin who had, during the Malacca polls last November, said that he, too, could trigger snap polls by "pressing a button" which would see Bersatu assemblypersons withdrawing support for the Umno-led Johor government.
However, Muhyiddin said he did not want to do that as he was thinking about the interest of the people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, Umno ended up dissolving the Johor government on its own accord on Jan 22, taking Bersatu by surprise, in an apparent bid to win the Johor polls on its own in order to gain dominance without having to rely on Bersatu.
Prior to the dissolution, the Johor government was an alliance between the Bersatu-led PN and Umno-led BN.
In trying to justify the dissolution of the Johor state assembly, Umno, including Najib as well, have often referred to Muhyiddin's "button pressing" statement.
Wan Saiful hit out at Najib for taking Muhyiddin's statement out of context.
"He (Najib) always repeats the sentence. I don't know at what level did Najib learn to read - but finish the paragraph if you're going to read it. Don't read half and leave out the other half.
"Muhyiddin said he did not press the button even though he could because he thought of what will happen to the people if they were forced into an election," Wan Saiful added. - Mkini
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