Snap polls needed as current govt illegitimate - Tok Mat

 

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan said the 15th general election should be held earlier because the current government is not a legitimate one.

“Not so much because we want to be in power. We want to give the mandate back to the people. We have to put things right.

“This is a blessed country, but for the last four years, we have regressed. We are struggling,” said Mohamad, as reported by the AsiaTimes today.

He said he had urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob – who is also Umno vice-president – to call for a general election last November after the tabling of the national budget.

The Umno leadership had pushed Ismail Sabri for early elections between March and June following their success in the Malacca, Sarawak, and Johor elections.

However, Mohamad, who is fondly known as Tok Mat, said Ismail Sabri did not heed their calls both times as the prime minister said he wanted to focus on handling the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy.

Ismail Sabri also said he had committed himself to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition.

Among the contents of the MoU is a commitment from Ismail Sabri’s government not to call for general elections before July 31, 2022.

“The prime minister told us he cannot take back his word on this so-called MoU. Some quarters say that if we pull out of the government today and dissolve Parliament, we will be deemed as condemned.

“I don’t understand at all. This isn’t even an agreement, it’s an MoU. But okay, we give him (Ismail Sabri) the benefit of the doubt,” said Mohamad.

“At the moment, the sentiment is very much with us, but I don’t know how long and how far we can last with the economic situation right now,” he added.

‘Anyone with majority can be PM’

While the Umno leadership has been very vocal about pushing for snap polls, Ismail Sabri has been coy about when he intends to call for the dissolution of Parliament to make way for the elections, saying he will do so once BN is “prepared”.

The Umno supreme council has since suggested Ismail Sabri as their prime minister candidate inGE15, a move which Mohamad said he suggested.

Mohamad Hasan

At the same time, Umno has also passed a resolution that enables them to postpone party elections up to six months after a general election.

The resolution has been widely seen as a move to secure Zahid’s position as Umno president until after GE15, which will enable him to select candidates for the polls.

“We want to avoid a struggle for power in Umno because once that happens, Umno is finished.

“That’s why we decided – I’m the one who decided – that Ismail Sabri will be the poster boy. Because he is the sitting prime minister. It doesn’t make sense if a sitting prime minister is there but the party nominates someone else,” said Mohamad.

However, Mohamad acknowledged that “anyone supported by a majority of the MPs” could emerge as the next prime minister in GE15.

“I told him (Ismail Sabri) he can be prime minister, no issue. But I need a strong and dominant party to be in the government, like before,” he added.

Political observers have pointed out that BN also campaigned in the recent Johor state elections with Hasni Mohammad as their menteri besar candidate, only for him to be replaced by Onn Hafiz Ghazi at the last minute after they won.

‘Certain people’ wanted ‘shortcut’

After the Pakatan Harapan government was toppled in February 2020 due to party hopping, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin was installed as prime minister with the support of Umno and PAS, among others.

In August 2021, Muhyiddin lost his majority at the instigation of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, paving the way for Ismail Sabri – who was then the highest-ranking Umno minister – to become prime minister.

Mohamad said they should have called for an election right after the fall of the Pakatan Harapan administration.

“I was the only one who opposed the idea of forming a new government. I made myself known,” he said.

If they had held an election at that time, Mohamad believes BN would have had a “windfall, hands down”.

But that opportunity slipped out of their grasp because “certain people” within his own party wanted to have a “shortcut” to getting back in power, he added.

“Maybe somebody just wants to save their own neck,” he said. - Mkini