Umno, Bersatu won’t budge

 

PETALING JAYA: Much of the recent negotiations on seat allocation between Umno, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and PAS for the 15th General Election hinges on the request by Bersatu to hang on to seats that have traditionally been held by Umno.

A source told The Star that the seats held by former Umno MPs who crossed over to Bersatu were proving to be a contentious point, with Umno wanting those seats back, while Bersatu felt that if the candidates were not the incumbents, then the Perikatan Nasional coalition was likely to lose the fight.

“Bersatu argued that voters in the next general election will be looking more at the candidate itself rather than voting along party lines, and that Umno and Bersatu should be seen as one entity.

“However, Umno argued that the candidate is a secondary matter, and as such, seats that have always been Umno’s strongholds, should be allocated to it.

“As for PAS, the matter is not much of a big deal as its seats are mostly in the east coast, (almost) exclusively their strongholds, and they don’t mind giving up some seats to Umno, ” said the source.

The second bone of contention is the reluctance of Umno to use a common symbol for the next general election.

“That matter, however, is not discussed, but Bersatu and PAS feel that there should be just one candidate running under the Perikatan logo against the Opposition, which is now split into a few camps, ” said the source.

“The crux of the matter is that there must be no three-cornered fights. It must be one-on-one – a candidate representing Perikatan against the Opposition, ” he said, adding that the declaration of a state of emergency on Jan 11 had given the consultative committee some breathing space to settle their differences.

“As we cannot hold elections during an Emergency, this will give room for Bersatu and Umno to decide on who best to take which seat, and PAS can continue to play the role of mediator, ” said the source.

Last September, parties in the Perikatan government agreed that seat allocation should be decided by the consultative committee set up by Umno, PAS and Bersatu.

The five-man committee consists of Senior Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, both representing Bersatu, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan and Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, both representing PAS.

Former Barisan Nasional secretary-general and Ketereh Umno division chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa represented Barisan Nasional and Umno.

Umno has made it clear that it is not willing to give up its traditional seats that easily.

Last Dec 20, Annuar said seat allocation among Perikatan parties should take into account Barisan’s position as the party with the most seats in the government.

The Federal Territories Minister also said Barisan was always open for discussions on the matter as long as the principles of its struggle were acknowledged.

“We want the parties (in Perikatan) to respect our position as the ‘grand old party’, and give us a role befitting our status, ” said Annuar then.

Many senior Umno leaders, including Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had relayed the same sentiment.

Ahmad Zahid had criticised Bersatu openly for wanting to keep seats which had been with Umno for a long time. - Star