UMNO leaders should put aide their egos and show party discipline by joining forces with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to form the next federal government, said former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
He said PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, with 82 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, is sure to become prime minister in the next day or so and has given UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) the honour of joining his government.
“We should be grateful to him and to [UMNO] party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is trying to save the party by giving it a little bit of oxygen to survive,” Zaid said in a video posted on his Facebook page earlier this morning.
“Strangely, there are party leaders from UMNO-BN who are against the party accepting PH’s offer, and there are also those who would rather get sacked from the party. A few of them had even urged the party president to step down,” an amused Zaid pointed out.
“But the present offer to join the government has been made to UMNO and BN members who have won [in their respective constituencies]. Those who did not contest, were dropped or lost should stay out of the conversation…don’t confuse the issue.”
He further urged party leaders, especially those who are against UMNO accepting PH’s offer, to carefully consider the party’s options.
“It’s not easy being the opposition…it’s easier said than done. We have been the opposition in Kelantan for 32 years. What progress have we made? What have we been able to do as the opposition [in the state]?” he questioned.
The reality, he noted, was that the party had suffered a “total loss in several states, with the recent 15th general election seeing UMNO being completely wiped out in seven states, namely Penang, Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor and Melaka.
As such, Zaid said that staying in government, even in a more limited role, was UMNO’s best chance to save itself from “oblivion”, and therefore he hoped that party leaders will be matured – and not emotional – in making the right decision.=
According to Zaid, the essence of the anti-party hopping law was that parliamentarians must show party discipline by acting in accordance with instructions handed down to them by the party leader and whip.
“Today, the party leader and whip is Zahid Hamidi, and when it comes to whom to support and which policies to support, we must listen to the whip. We should have discipline in Parliament.
He stressed that now was not the time for them to raise grouses about whether Zahid ought to remain president or question party policies.
“Wait two or three months before thrashing it out. That is another matter altogether. Our obligation right now should be to form the next government, and if that government is to be led by Anwar Ibrahim, then that’s something that we must accept,” he said.
“We must accept the fact that each day that we are without a functional government, we are losing billions of ringgit and these are the things that we must resolve…this is the type of responsible leaders that we want.”
GE15, which was conducted on Saturday, saw PH garnering 82 seats while Perikatan Nasional (PN) has 73. The BN coalition, which had pushed for national polls to be held this year ahead of the GE14 expiry next year, only garnered 30 seats. – Nov 22, 2022
Main pic credit: The Star
