Sabah Umno has suggested that its chairman Bung Moktar Radin be made Barisan Nasional’s “poster boy” for the upcoming Sabah state election.
Its information chief, Suhaimi Nasir, said Bung, a former deputy chief minister, was the most qualified person for the role as he is leading Umno and BN in Sabah.
“It has always been Sabah Umno‘s tradition for the state BN chairman to be (our poster boy),” Suhaimi said in a recent interview with selected media.
Nonetheless, the Libaran MP said this was subject to the agreement of their allies for the upcoming state election, particularly Pakatan Harapan (PH), the coalition BN is courting for an alliance.
“We will have to get the advice of the chairmen of both coalitions,” he said, referring to BN and PH chiefs, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Anwar Ibrahim.
Earlier this month, Bung said Sabah BN was not focused on who would become its “poster boy” for the state polls as all of its candidates were chief minister material.
The six-term Kinabatangan MP said the coalition’s priority was winning as many seats as possible to ensure BN could lead the state administration in cooperation with other parties.
Suhaimi said Sabah BN remained firm in its plan to contest 40 of the 73 state seats up for grabs, with the remaining allocated to PH and other potential allies.
“Seats contested by Umno would be more in the semi-urban and rural areas, while the urban seats would be distributed to PH or other allies.”
BN and ruling state coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) are both courting PH for an electoral pact. GRS and PH are currently allies in the state government while BN sits in the opposition in the state assembly.
Analysts previously said that a pact between BN and PH would be tricky because Bung was unpredictable and the latter coalition’s supporters did not like him.
Be more self-aware, MCA
Separately, Suhaimi dismissed a Johor MCA leader’s claim that BN’s alliance with PH was the reason behind MCA’s declining support, saying the BN component needed to be more self-aware.
He said MCA had always been allocated urban seats in Sabah but was largely unsuccessful, except when it won the Kepayan state seat in 2004 and 2008.
“They need to have some self-awareness too,” he said. “If MCA is strong, of course BN would grow in dominance and regain the support of the rakyat.”
MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon recently called for the party to chart its own course if BN continued to drag its feet in setting a clear direction for the coalition, referring to the current alliance with PH.
Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li subsequently said PH was not “saving” BN but dismantling it from within, adding that blind cooperation with PH would only render BN parties politically irrelevant.
