By Ranjit Singh
UMNO’s information chief Shahril Hamdan said there was no need for arrogant posturing by anyone in PN that PN could win a snap election.
He was responding to FocusM’s article yesterday citing Bersatu’s supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan who said that PN could win comfortably if snap polls were held.
Shahril said the most important thing now was for the government to focus on the economy and welfare of the people.
“If we have learned anything in the past two years or so, things can change very quickly. Good times don’t always last, especially if we tempt fate by annoying the electorate with unnecessary internal politicking that has no bearing on people’s lives.
“Even if there’s reason to be optimistic against Pakatan Harapan, there’s still much work to be done,” said Shahril.
He added that in that spirit, it was also unhelpful to appear dismissive of any of the 12 parties that make up the presently loose coalition.
PN was a loose coalition of Umno, PAS, a group from Bersatu, MCA, MIC, GPS and several parties from Sabah.
“If some of these 12 have reservations or concerns, this type of tone isn’t the way to resolve it. For example, provoking Umno by saying you’ll sweep clean Malay seats without us on board, after all the evident success of Muafakat Nasional – that isn’t a smart or clear-headed remark.
“Rather, mutual respect is the path to ensure we don’t go the way of Pakatan,” added Shahril.
He also said he was hopeful that Wan Saiful and more importantly the leaders of all parties will keep a calm head, prioritise government’s delivery and communications of Prihatin and Penjana packages and aim to find common ground by way of policy proposals that reflect the people’s interests.
“The people by and large have little interest in political machinations about seat allocations or coalition registration. Those things are best discussed behind closed doors. The public discussion should be about why this group of parties can perform better than the other side,” Shahril added.
