Bersatu man urges Zahid, Muhyiddin to discuss election pact

Razali Idris believes that Umno and Bersatu rank and file will fall in line if the two leaders meet and agree on a pact.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister in August 2021 after several Umno MPs, including Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, withdrew support for him. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 A Bersatu leader has called for his party chief Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to meet face-to-face to discuss the possibility of a pact for the next general election (GE16).

Bersatu Supreme Council member Razali Idris said cooperation with Umno was not impossible given that the two parties had worked together under the Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration.

Razali, a Terengganu state executive council member, added that if the two leaders met and agreed on cooperating, the rank and file of Umno and Bersatu would fall in line.

“Muhyiddin openly made room for Umno to take the prime minister’s post (in 2021), and we worked together under one government then. So it isn’t impossible for Bersatu and Umno to work together.

“If the top leaders make such a decision, the rest of us will follow. But what’s most important to me is uniting the Malay-Muslims.

“I suggest it comes from the top. So it’s best that Muhyiddin and Zahid sit together and look for a formula for us to work together in facing GE16,” he told FMT.

Ismail succeeded Muhyiddin as prime minister in August 2021. The Bersatu president had resigned from the top post after several Umno MPs, including Zahid, withdrew support for him.

Razali said fresh discussions should not revolve around Muafakat Nasional, Umno’s now-defunct charter with PAS, or the possibility of Bersatu being dissolved and its members absorbed into Umno.

He maintained that there were those in Bersatu’s “lower” levels who wanted their party to work with Umno.

“But we ask Zahid and Muhyiddin to meet and discuss first. We don’t want discussions to start from the bottom. It has to start from the top.”

When questioned by reporters yesterday, Zahid did not rule out the possibility of Umno cooperating with Bersatu. The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman said any decision would depend on the latest developments involving Bersatu.

He nonetheless expressed confidence that Umno’s grassroots supported the top leadership’s decision to remain in the unity government until GE16.

Zahid had repeatedly said that BN and Pakatan Harapan would work together to face GE16, although he has appeared more non-committal of late following rising tensions with DAP in particular. - FMT