AMID “open war” between Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Umno, a MIC leader said the tussle is about leadership issues and did not affect cooperation among Perikatan Nasional grassroots.
“My argument is simple. If Umno dislikes Perikatan, then why allow Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to take up the deputy prime minister’s post?
“And it baffles me on why Umno MPs still want to hold on to their Cabinet posts if they are against Bersatu,” its vice president Datuk T Mohan told FocusM.
Umno has been vocal on its criticism against ally Bersatu since last year, creating a divide in the former between what is popularly known as the “Cabinet cluster” and “court clusters”, with the former in favour of the pact while the latter opposed to it.
Last month, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that his party was pulling support from Perikatan, just hours after Ismail Sabri was appointed deputy prime minister and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein being promoted to senior minister.
Last week, both Zahid and former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak clarified that they were only opposed to Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin’s leadership, not Perikatan.
On that note, Mohan opined that the clash between Umno and Bersatu seemed to be personal in nature, adding Perikatan grassroots members are still enjoying cordial ties with one another.
“As for MIC, we made our stand very clear that we support Perikatan, in our capacity as Barisan Nasional (BN) component party.
“This is the position endorsed by our annual general assembly and we are focused on how to win the next general election,” the Dewan Negara Senator remarked. – Aug 1, 2021.
