DAP DEPUTY Secretary-General Ramkarpal Singh has hit back at UMNO information chief Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, accusing UMNO of repeatedly undermining the stability of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.
In a strongly worded statement on Nov 14, the Bukit Gelugor MP dismissed Azalina’s invocation of the Dec 16, 2022, Cooperation Agreement as “amusing”, arguing she should reflect on her own party’s commitment to the pact.
Ramkarpal pointed out that the agreement was specifically designed to guarantee a stable administration, yet UMNO’s recent actions have strained coalition consensus.
He cited three instances of UMNO testing the pact’s boundaries: its ongoing political alignment with opposition party PAS during the Johor, Negeri Sembilan, and Melaka state elections; persistent public attacks against Anwar by UMNO figures; and open calls by party leaders to dissolve Parliament while actively governing together.
“It is UMNO’s actions – not DAP’s – that have strained the consensus,” Ramkarpal said, reaffirming DAP’s disciplined support for the administration.
Ramkarpal’s rebuttal follows Azalina’s statement a day earlier, in which she chided DAP national chairman Gobind Singh Deo for demanding UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s resignation if he did not back Anwar’s leadership.
Azalina argued that issuing public ultimatums breached the spirit of the coalition agreement, which does not require unconditional agreement on every political stance.
Amid ongoing friction over Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s conditional pardon, Azalina outlined four options for DAP – including utilising the agreement’s internal mediation mechanism or reviewing the pact.
Warning that terminating the agreement would point directly toward dissolving Parliament, she maintained that UMNO remains committed to upholding the Federal Constitution and placed the ball firmly in DAP’s court. — Nov 14, 2026
Main photo credit: FMT
