“FORCED marriages” will not work when there is no mutual love between top leadership or at the grassroots level, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The former prime minister claimed that cracks are slowly appearing in the ruling parties’ “forced marriage” as they actively criticise each other in public.
Speaking at an event on Sunday (April 16), the Bera MP was referring to the unity government led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and prophesied that the predicted cracks would soon lead to “permanent breakup”.
“Whatever we do, it must be with mutual love. Forced marriages will not last long. A forced marriage like this between former rival political parties – if there is no mutual love, in the end, there will be cracks and there will be a permanent break-up,” Ismail Sabri was reported as saying.
“As for now, it is just the beginning, but there are already (cracks), what with DAP commenting on UMNO, UMNO commenting on DAP.”
The former UMNO vice president further alleged that former Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed publicly condemned DAP, to which DAP leader Lim Kit Siang and other DAP delegates had jumped in to respond to Nur Jazlan.
“Forced marriages do not work – there must be mutual love. It cannot be marriages between the top leadership only – there must be a marriage of love between those at the grassroots too. If not, this is what happens,” said Ismail Sabri.
“Perhaps it will get worse…I do not know what will happen. We shall wait and see,” he added.
Nur Jazlan stated on April 15 that UMNO’s ties to DAP in the unity coalition are posing problems for the party to recapture Malay support.
Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi, a member of UMNO’s Supreme Council, also noted that Pakatan Harapan leaders such as Lim Kit Siang and Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim were genuinely worried that a royal pardon for former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would revitalise UMNO.
Both Lim and Hassan have openly opposed the UMNO Supreme Council’s request to the Palace for a royal pardon for former UMNO president Najib on April 9.
Lim had previously warned that the government could self-destruct, while Hassan had predicted a “major disaster” if Najib is granted a royal pardon. – April 17, 2023
Main pic credit: Utusan Malaysia
