Time for Umno to put its money where its mouth is

 The party should contest the impending Melaka polls solo to test whether it really has the support it claims or is simply deluding itself.

From Clement Stanley

The next Melaka state election is due within the next five months but the rival parties have already begun sounding the war drums. And none louder than Umno.

It reached a crescendo at the recent Umno general assembly, where party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and some of their leaders laid bare their intention to take over the reins of the federal government with the help of PAS.

Hence, the repeated call by Zahid and Umno for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to dissolve Parliament before the five-year term of the Madani government ends.

But Anwar can ignore such calls. He has, after all, another 15 months to go. Anything can happen in that time. Nothing is certain even though Umno and PAS have started counting their chickens before they are hatched.

The manner in which Umno dared the prime minister to remove its members from the Cabinet at its recent general assembly underscored, or perhaps reiterated, one thing: the arrogance that contributed to their ouster in 2018 was never truly exorcised.

And all it took was – from an outsider’s point of view at least – two state elections to abandon calls for the party to heed lessons from its worst electoral outing.

The wins in Johor and Negeri Sembilan have apparently returned the “we-are-untouchable” swagger Umno had for the longest time prior to 2018.

Electoral wins do boost one’s confidence, but there is a fine line between cockiness and delusion.

However, there is one way to test this theory, and it comes from Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh.

Akmal challenged Pakatan Harapan to go solo and contest all 28 seats up for grabs in the next Melaka state election, telling them to forget working with Barisan Nasional.

But instead of telling PH to go solo, perhaps BN, led by Umno, should do the same.

Forget about working with PAS.

BN won handsomely in Johor and Negeri Sembilan in part due to the tacit or explicit support of PAS in those two states.

Does BN know how much of an impact vote transference played a part in these victories? Or is Umno’s leadership trying to kid itself?

The proof is in the pudding and maybe BN should put their money where its mouth is and just go solo at the Melaka polls.

On another note, Umno’s arrogance should also serve as a red flag for PAS.

After winning just one state election on an understanding with PAS, Umno wants PAS to prove its loyalty to “Malay unity” by holding an election in Terengganu.

What will happen if Umno wins more seats with PAS’s help in the future? What would Umno demand then? Subservience and total submission?

Maybe this is a good reason for PAS to paraphrase Akmal by telling BN to “forget about working with PAS. Go ahead and contest all 28 seats”.

But would Umno be brave enough to do just that despite the chest thumping at their general assembly? I doubt it. They would not have the guts to do that. - FMT

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.