KUALA LUMPUR – Barisan Nasional (BN) linchpin Umno should express its “full gratitude” to Pakatan Harapan (PH) for helping the former win the recent Mahkota by-election, Johor DAP committee member Dr Boo Cheng Hau said.
He dismissed a call by Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed that PH should apologise to Umno for attacking its former political rival in the past.
Boo said said BN should recognise that it was due to the leadership of PH chairman, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, that reforms to the country were made which “saved Umno”.
“BN-Umno and the country’s socio-economic ailments are like a severely ill diabetic patient with gangrenous toes that need amputation to salvage his life before sepsis occurs.
“PH under the leadership of Anwar has taken painful reforms, similar to a painful amputation in surgery, that has not only saved Umno but also the country from destruction,” Boo said in a statement today.
Boo added BN-Umno should take responsibility and apologise to all Malaysians for “rampant mismanagement of the country’s socioeconomic well-being and corruption”, in reference to the six decades the coalition ruled the country before it was ousted from federal power in the 2018 general election.
Yesterday, Nur Jazlan was reported saying PH should publicly apologise to Umno for decades of attacks, asserting that the Mahkota by-election results showed that no single party in the unity government coalition could claim to be the alliance’s main pillar.
He added that the by-election victory, which saw Umno secure a decisive victory with a majority of 20,658 votes, was a result of increasing Malay trust and confidence in the party’s cause.
However, Boo today said analyses of the by-election results showed that more than 14,000 of the over 27,000 votes won by the BN-Umno candidate in Mahkota had come from PH supporters.
In the by-election last Saturday, BN’s Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah received 27,995 votes while his sole opponent from Perikatan Nasional, Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, garnered 7,347 votes.
Boo also reminded Nur Jazlan that PH’s cooperation with BN in the unity government is “conditional”, and the BN must continue reforming itself “like a severely diabetic patient who is willing to abide by his doctor’s prescription, advice and strict diet”.
“Or else, BN-Umno would have to face the electorate’s verdict in the upcoming elections on its own,” Boo said, referring to the next general election.
While BN retained the Mahkota seat in the recent polls for the fifth time, its landslide majority was also due to the fact that voter turnout was low, at 53.84%. – October 1, 2024
