Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin believes relations between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH), as well as between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, are now at their lowest point.
Khairy, better known as KJ, said the recent Umno General Assembly reflected growing sentiment among delegates that the party’s cooperation with PH had effectively reached its end.
“Basically, the message is that we are only staying in the government until the next general election (GE) — whenever it is held — and once the GE comes, we will be fighting each other.
“That is essentially the message from the Umno General Assembly,” he said in the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast.
Khairy said he attended the assembly and believed the sentiment was shared by a significant number of delegates, who agreed with the view that Umno was “done” with the current Unity Government.
He said the sentiment was so strong that some parties were calling for the general election to be held as soon as possible.
According to Khairy, the direction emerging from the assembly also pointed towards the possibility of Umno working with Perikatan Nasional (PN), particularly PAS, based on a formula similar to the one used in Negeri Sembilan.
However, he said several issues would still need to be resolved before such cooperation could take shape.
These include the distribution of parliamentary and state assembly seats, arrangements in PAS-governed states including those under the SG4 grouping, as well as BN-governed states such as Pahang.
“A lot of things have yet to be decided, but what is clear is that we are ‘done’ with PH, we are ‘done’ with Anwar, and we are ready to contest with possible cooperation with PN and PAS, and ready to take over the government,” he said.
Khairy said seat allocation would be among the key issues that Umno and PAS would have to settle if they decide to cooperate in the next general election.
He cited Melaka as an example, saying BN’s basic position was “21 seats or none at all”, leaving very limited room for PAS to be allocated seats in the state.
He said the eventual outcome would depend on how the parties resolve the outstanding issues, particularly the terms of any potential cooperation between Umno and PAS.
