A senior Umno leader today said that state BN chief Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s declaration against future cooperation with DAP was intended to tap into voters’ unhappiness arising from DAP’s treatment of its outgoing Skudai assemblyperson Marina Ibrahim.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Umno supreme council member Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Onn is well within his rights to issue the statement as he prepares to lead BN in the upcoming state election.
“In my opinion, the real reason Onn said he did not want to ‘sit at the same table with DAP’ was because there is a strong undercurrent of dissatisfaction over the way DAP treated Marina.
“Not (sentiment) against the Chinese community, but towards DAP itself.
“So if he (Onn) wants to tap into that anti-DAP sentiment, he is well within his rights to do so, especially since it is election season,” said the former three-term Pulai MP in reference to Onn’s speech during the launch of Johor BN’s election machinery last Sunday.
On May 31, Marina announced her decision to retire from politics and confirmed she would not defend her Skudai seat in the next election.
Since then, her supporters and DAP’s critics have targeted the Harapan component party after Johor DAP chief Teo Nie Ching revealed that the party had intended to redeploy Marina to an urban seat and also considered nominating her to head a statutory body, regardless of the election outcome.
Marina has also rejected claims that she is afraid of contesting in Malay-majority areas, in response to what she described as false narratives being spread.
Nur Jazlan claimed today that Marina herself exposed DAP’s flaws, although she never confirmed the authenticity of a reported letter sent to Teo rejecting the offer to switch seats after one term in exchange for a statutory body post.
“I also personally want to see whether my own assemblyperson for Perling stays for a second term after a poor service record there,” he said in a swipe at Johor DAP committee member Liew Chin Tong.
War of words over past cooperation
Responding to Onn, Johor DAP deputy chief Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali reminded how the caretaker menteri besar had “pleaded” for help during the Mahkota by-election, which was eventually won by Umno’s Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah.
Nur Jazlan, however, countered today that he had personally done the same for Harapan during the Pulai by-election in 2023, which saw Johor Amanah vice-chief Suhaizan Kaiat defend the seat vacated after the death of Salahuddin Ayub.
“They forgot that in Pulai, I helped Suhaizan win! I didn’t say anything about it. So don’t keep bringing it up.
“But DAP sometimes likes to bring it up. Whatever I did, I never brought it up,” he said.
“It was the political arrangement at the time, and I carried it out sincerely. DAP also acted sincerely in Mahkota.
“Now the situation has changed, so that arrangement no longer applies,” he stressed.
Nur Jazlan also took aim at DAP leaders who have argued that BN would not have returned to federal power without cooperation with Harapan, pointing out that Harapan similarly could not be in Putrajaya without BN’s 30 parliamentary seats.
He further stressed that past political arrangements should not dictate future cooperation, especially with Johor heading into an election.
“What happened in Johor is in the past. Now we have to go through an election, and I expect Umno to still be the majority on its own to administer Johor,” he said.
Nur Jazlan added that Umno remained open to working with other parties after the election, including PAS and Harapan, depending on the outcome.
“Whether PAS wants to work with us is up to them. The same goes for Harapan - after the election, it doesn’t mean we won’t work with them,” the Umno leader added.
He also accused DAP of selectively recalling its political history, noting that the party had cooperated with PAS for two decades before splitting up.
Confident of retaining Johor dominance
Johor last went to the polls in March 2022, when BN secured a two-thirds majority by winning 40 of the state’s 56 seats.
Harapan won 12 seats, Muda (1), and Perikatan Nasional captured three.
However, the 2022 election also recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts at 54.92 percent, despite the electorate expanding to more than 2.5 million voters following the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration.
Looking forward, Nur Jazlan expressed confidence that BN, led by Umno, would remain the dominant force in Johor after the coming state election.
“The point is, who will win the majority. I still believe it will be Umno. Whether we maintain the current number of seats or not, we will still have the mandate to form the government,” he said.
Nur Jazlan also downplayed PAS’ prospects in the state, noting that the Islamist party had historically struggled to gain a foothold in Johor.
“PAS has never been strong in Johor, not even as the runner-up.
“PAS may decide not to clash with Umno in certain seats. That’s what I mean by ‘unplanned’ cooperation,” he added.
PAS, together with Bersatu, previously contested under the PN banner, but the two parties have officially broken ranks without a formal dissolution of the coalition, which is now led by PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar. - Mkini
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