Umno proposes Ismail Sabri as GE15 PM candidate

 

The Umno Supreme Council today decided that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be its poster boy for the upcoming 15th general election.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan in a statement announced that the council has agreed to name Ismail Sabri (above, right), who is party vice-president, as their choice for prime minister candidate.

“The Supreme Council unanimously agreed to propose that Ismail Sabri become our prime minister candidate for the upcoming GE15,” he said.

The decision came amidst speculations over Ismail Sabri’s fate in the general election, especially in terms of his premiership.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (above, left) had during the recent Johor state election indicated that the party had yet to decide who to become its poster boy for the general election.

He said this again during Umno’s general assembly, saying that it wasn’t appropriate to promote it and that it was ultimately the decision of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Ismail Sabri, who is the Bera MP, was appointed as the ninth prime minister in August last year after Muhyiddin Yassin was forced to step down on Aug 16 as 15 Umno MPs withdrew their support for him.

The 15 Umno MPs then backed Ismail Sabri, the party vice-president, who acquired the position of prime minister with a slim majority in Parliament. 

A few days later, Harapan top leaders - PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, then DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Ismail Sabri had begun negotiating a reform deal - dubbed the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability. 

All sides agreed that the deal is to restore political stability in the country for the sake of handling the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to revive the economy through bipartisanship, by covering multiple reforms including the infamous anti-hopping bill.

MOU on the rocks

In February, Anwar threatened to call off the MOU if the bill was not tabled and passed in March’s Parliament sitting.

However, the bill has not been tabled since, with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar reportedly confirming that the proposed bill would be deferred yet again. 

Johor Bahru Umno chief Shahrir Abdul Samad alluded that Bersatu was responsible for blocking the planned anti-party hopping bill, as he pointed to MPs who had defected from Umno to Bersatu.

Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan, however, said reports about Bersatu’s objections did not reflect the spirit of the party’s discussions.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi questioned if there were attempts to sabotage the bill but Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar stopped short of calling it “sabotage”.

Instead, he described it as a “difference of opinions among those in government”.

According to Harapan’s leadership, Ismail Sabri promised that another special Dewan Rakyat meeting will be called to pass all legislative matters concerning the anti-hopping laws before the end of May.

According to a memorandum of understanding between Ismail Sabri and Harapan, the anti-hopping law and laws mandating term limits for the prime minister should have been passed by the first meeting of the Dewan Rakyat’s fifth session.

That deadline had already lapsed on March 24. Ismail Sabri and Harapan had hitherto not addressed this.

Wan Junaidi later proposed June 7 for the next special meeting of the Dewan Rakyat over an anti-hopping law, which would be dependent on the agreement of the newly formed special select committee and cabinet to proceed. - Mkini