Zahid on holiday for two weeks, confirms Saifuddin

 

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will settle any remaining seats to be negotiated with Pakatan Harapan after he returns from his overseas trip.

PUTRAJAYA: Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is on holiday for two weeks, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has confirmed.

The PKR secretary-general said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Zahid will meet soon to complete negotiations on a few more seats between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) for the upcoming polls in six states.

“(They will meet) when Zahid returns from his holiday. Zahid is still on holiday,” he told members of the media in an interview at his office yesterday.

Saifuddin also confirmed that Zahid’s holiday was for two weeks and that the BN chairman was expected to return to Malaysia within a few days.

Last week, Anwar denied rumours that Zahid was away on holiday for two weeks. “No,” he told reporters briefly when asked about the matter.

Talks with BN a breeze, unlike with PAS

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said seat negotiations with BN had been a breeze and that this was unlike in the past when PKR had to hold seat talks with PAS.

The senator said he had been in PKR’s committee for seat negotiations for the general elections since 1999, adding that the process used to be much more complicated.

He said dealing with Umno was easy as the BN lynchpin would put everything on the table. On the other hand, he quipped, PAS had the tendency to reach into “a drawer under the table” just when negotiations were thought to have been settled.

“The most important thing is that once you have agreed on something, do not be a traitor. And in our history with PAS, they had betrayed us.

“(In the 2013 general election), we lost the Kota Damansara state seat. Our candidate lost, because PAS decided to field a candidate, and Umno won,” he said, referring to when PKR, PAS, and DAP were allies in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

He said, ties with the Islamic party were much better when the party was led by leaders such as the late Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Fadzil Noor and Haron Din.

Saifuddin added that the PAS led by Abdul Hadi Awang was not the party that he knew, with party leaders taking a religious line and likening political differences to religious disputes.

He also said that Perikatan Nasional would be better off campaigning against the government based on policies and programmes, rather than using royalty, race or religion (3R).

However, Saifuddin expected 3R issues to be played up by the opposition even more as the six states head to the polls soon. - FMT