Meetings between Bersatu, others to avoid multi-cornered fights: Source

The informal discussions between Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin and leaders of other political parties leading up to the 15th general election (GE15) are more about avoiding multi-cornered fights.

According to a source from Bersatu, the meetings are geared towards preparing to go up against BN, in order to prevent a repeat of the results from the Malacca and Johor state elections.

“We were made to understand that it revolves around avoiding multi-cornered fights if we are forced to face BN in the next GE so that results such as the Malacca and the Johor polls will not be repeated due to divisions in the bloc contested by BN,” the source told Malaysiakini today.

However, the source said they did not know further details of the informal discussion, as they were not involved.

The Malacca snap polls which took place on Nov 20 saw BN capturing the historical state with 21 of the 28 state seats, while PN won two seats and Pakatan Harapan got five seats.

BN also won big in the Johor elections held on March 12 with 40 state seats, while PN got three seats, Harapan with 12 seats and Muda only winning one state seat.

Yesterday, Muhyiddin said he had informed the party’s coalition partners about their informal discussions with other political parties in order to face GE15.

Muhyiddin said the PN supreme council was informed of the matter yesterday in a meeting that was also attended by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Star president Jeffrey Kitingan, SAPP president Yong Teck Lee, Gerakan president Dominic Lau and representatives from other component parties.

Meanwhile, Bernama today reported that Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu said the party’s supreme council meeting on Wednesday did not discuss Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s position as prime minister. 

Faizal, who is also the youth and sports minister, said the meeting only discussed the preparations for GE15 and the issues faced by the rakyat currently.

“There was no discussion on the position of the prime minister. We support the current prime minister and want a stable government so that it can focus on the issues of the people and not personal political issues.

“We discussed preparing for the election, the cost of living, the increasing food prices and how to find a way to help the government address problems faced by the people,” he said. - Mkini