PN’s ‘betrayal’ in Sabah caused Bersatu’s fallout with Umno, says Najib

 

Najib Razak alleged that the Bersatu-led PN betrayed Umno during the Sabah polls less than three weeks after Bersatu was invited to join Muafakat Nasional.

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak says it was the “betrayal” by Perikatan Nasional in the Sabah state elections in 2020 that led to Bersatu’s fallout with Umno and spoiled its chances of joining Muafakat Nasional (MN).

He said the betrayal came about less than three weeks after the top Umno and PAS leaders had sent the invitation letter in August 2020 to Bersatu asking it to join the MN pact.

“The deal fell apart after Umno felt it had been betrayed, especially in the seat negotiations and run-up to the Sabah state elections.

“Less than three weeks after the letter, the Bersatu-led PN fielded candidates to fight Barisan Nasional in 17 seats in the Sabah polls.

“They also planted six independent candidates to split our votes,” he said in a Facebook post this morning.

Najib’s comments come after certain parties had accused Umno of being insincere, claiming that the party had broken its promise made to Bersatu when it was invited to join MN.

Najib said Umno was also compelled to give up many of its “traditional seats” in Sabah which it had good prospects of winning to Bersatu, as part of the deal to let a BN candidate assume the chief minister’s post if the coalition won the elections.

However, he said it was a Bersatu candidate who was eventually appointed as the chief minister, despite BN winning the highest number of seats in the state elections.

“So, do you still want to presist with the propaganda that Umno had betrayed MN and PAS by not allowing Bersatu to join MN, when it was actually otherwise?

“Why do we need to work together with parties which harbour intentions of destroying Umno?” he asked. - FMT