Loke’s stance on joining forces a ‘recognition’ of Umno’s strength, says Ahmad

 

Ahmad Maslan says Umno’s 22,000 branches make it difficult for its rivals to topple the party. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s recent stance of not ruling out any cooperation with Umno was a “recognition” of the latter’s strength, its secretary-general, Ahmad Maslan, said.

Ahmad claimed that DAP had finally realised that Umno had the strongest grassroots support compared to other parties.

The Pontian MP said Umno’s 22,000 branches made it difficult for its rivals to topple the party regardless of whether there was a “political tsunami”.

“Whether they like it or not, they are forced to admit this,” he said in an interview last night.

-ADVERTISEMENT-

Ads by 

Ahmad said this in response to his DAP counterpart, Loke Siew Fook, stating that DAP and Umno could join forces after the 15th general election due to the absence of a single, dominant party.

In an interview with FMT, Loke said collaboration between different parties was now more likely.

On Aug 7, FMT reported Loke as “implying” that any cooperation between DAP and Umno might happen after GE15 since Malaysian politics had experienced drastic changes post-GE14 with the absence of a single, dominant party.

He said there might be higher chances of cooperation between political coalitions.

DAP was open to working with any party pursuing these same agendas, he said.

Recently, DAP and its Pakatan Harapan (PH) partners, PKR and Amanah, have cooperated with Umno and its leaders on matters such as the ousting of Bersatu’s Ahmad Faizal Azumu as Perak menteri besar, and signing the memorandum of understanding between PH and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. - FMT