THE cooperation between UMNO and DAP is on the right course despite UMNO’s ties with DAP coming into question after the grand old party’s dismal performance at the recent six state elections last Saturday (Aug 12), said a DAP leader.
According to DAP vice chairman Nga Kor Ming, the outcome of the state polls in Negri Sembilan has demonstrated how the two former bitter political foes could work well together.
“We can see that the cooperation between UMNO and DAP is on the right track based on how well we (DAP) did in Negri Sembilan. UMNO also almost won every seat it contested there,” the Teluk Intan MP was reported as saying by FMT today (Aug 15).
“The outcome of the state elections is a good start for both parties, since it is the first time that UMNO and DAP had contested alongside each other.
“We have only been together for nine months, so give us four or five years and I’m confident the unity government will be stronger and more stable,” the Teluk Intan MP said.
In Negri Sembilan state elections, UMNO and DAP both won 11 seats and 14 seats respectively contributing to Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) unity coalition’s big victory in the state.
On Sunday (Aug 13), UMNO Supreme Council member Isham Jalil had raised questions about the party’s alliance with DAP after the Malay party had performed dismally in the elections over the weekend.
Tragically, UMNO only won 19 of the 108 state seats it contested, following an equally dismal performance in the 15th General Election (GE15) last November, where it claimed only 26 of the 120 constituencies it contested.
Isham said it is crucial that UMNO addresses the cooperation issues concerning DAP and the party, otherwise the party would suffer worse defeats in the next general election.
“To chase 500 DAP votes, we lost 5,000 Malay votes in the process. If we lose our grassroots, the party will be dead,” Isham said on his Facebook page on Sunday (Aug 13).
The former UMNO information chief also suggested that the party should consider cooperating with DAP in the government only, and not in elections.
The PH-BN unity coalition managed to retain Negri Sembilan, Selangor, and Penang at the polls, though Perikatan Nasional (PN) made some inroads in these states.
PN had won 146 seats out of 246 contested, including making a clean sweep of Terengganu’s 32 state assembly seats and was close to doing the same in Kedah and Kelantan in the Aug 12 six state polls. – Aug 15, 2023
