Treat us as a real partner, Umno veep tells Muhyiddin

 

Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin says a general election is Umno’s last choice because of the pandemic and how it will affect the people.

PETALING JAYA: Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin has urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to make the right “decision” to maintain the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, saying his party wants to be treated as a real partner in the current administration.

Khaled said Umno’s priority was to continue defending the PN government which it helped form, although it had other options —whether to bring down the current administration or make way for a general election.

“But (a general election) is Umno’s last choice because of the pandemic. Umno will not gamble with the safety, health and welfare of the people by going for elections.

“Umno’s priority is to form a government that is truly capable of managing the country in this crisis. And for that, Umno wants to be respected as a real partner in this political cooperation.

“This is in the prime minister’s hands. He understands what Umno wants and he also understands what Umno is capable of doing,” he said in a statement today.

Khaled also said Umno’s relationship with PPBM had always been “no trust, only mutual respect” since Muhyiddin’s party was a splinter party of Umno.

However, he said Umno decided to back Muhyiddin to lead the country during the political turmoil in February as it wanted to give impetus to a new leadership for the country.

“After seven months, Umno’s restlessness with PPBM has started to show. It’s widely known that Umno doesn’t trust PPBM … even our mutual respect has gone.

“Umno will always support good decisions. So, show us genuine leadership that can transform mutual respect to real trust because, as we know, trust is earned, not given,” he told Muhyiddin.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan had announced that the party was considering withdrawing its support for PN and that it had set some new conditions for the government for continued political cooperation.

His announcement came amid PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s claim of having the numbers to form the government, prompting speculation that Umno could join hands with Anwar and Pakatan Harapan to topple PN. - FMT