Umno leader says party fully backed Ismail as PM

 

Shahril Hamdan (left) has hit out at Wan Saiful Wan Jan over his threat that Bersatu’s support for Ismail Sabri Yaakob is conditional.

PETALING JAYA: Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan has hit out at his Bersatu counterpart, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, over the issue of support for Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the country’s prime minister.

In a Facebook post today, Shahril fact-checked Wan Saiful’s claim that it was Bersatu, not Umno, that nominated Ismail as prime minister after Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Muhyiddin Yassin was forced to step down from the post last August.

Shahril said both Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) had decided to nominate Ismail as their sole candidate for the top post in a meeting on Aug 17 last year.

On the claim that Umno preferred Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the position, Shahril again called out Wan Saiful over his lie, saying the Umno president had never asked to be nominated by the party.

“Not even once did the president think of nominating himself as prime minister. This was neither the case when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government fell in February 2020 nor when the PN-led government fell last August.

“Even back on Aug 12, 2021, the president released a statement where he said that the thought of becoming the party’s prime minister candidate never crossed his mind although he leads the party and the BN coalition.

“This shows that Umno collectively supported Ismail as its candidate,” he said.

On Wan Saiful’s claim that Umno’s “court cluster” – the term used to describe party leaders who have been hauled to court – pushed for the Johor state elections, Shahril reminded the Bersatu leader that it was his party president who once threatened to bring down the state government during the Melaka polls campaign period.

“In Tan Sri’s (Muhyiddin’s) words, I press the button now, Johor (state) government falls.”

He stressed that it was political instability caused by Bersatu in Johor, not the “court cluster”, that triggered the state elections.

Yesterday, FMT reported Wan Saiful as saying in a PN ceramah that his party’s support for Ismail was conditional, and reminded the prime minister that it was Bersatu that nominated him for the position after Muhyiddin resigned.

“We need to remember that Ismail is the prime minister today not because of Umno. Umno never nominated him. They wanted Zahid,” he said.

He also said the “court cluster” did not care for Ismail’s efforts to administer the country successfully, and the group was only focused on saving themselves. - FMT