Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has dismissed as wishful thinking Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) suggestion that his party form the state government in Perak with the opposition coalition.
Zahid, the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said such an alliance was unnecessary as Perak menteri besar Saarani Mohamad had been doing a stellar job of governing the state, Bernama reported.
He also said he felt that opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin’s remarks were likely prompted by the fact that PN had realised that its support was waning.
“It would have been better if such a proposal (Umno working with PN) had been made a long time ago.
“But it only came up now in Ayer Kuning – well, it’s now 12.30pm – if we were dreaming, it must have just been a daydream,” he was quoted as saying.
Yesterday, Hamzah was reported as saying that the pig farm issue in Perak, particularly in Ayer Kuning, could be resolved if Umno were to join forces with PN to form the state government.
However, Zahid said the issues raised by PN on the campaign trail were “irrelevant” as they had already been resolved.
Earlier today, think tank Ilham Centre – which predicted that BN would retain the seat at tomorrow’s polls – said that local issues had dominated the campaign.
While Pakatan Harapan, BN‘s ally in the unity government, questioned the credibility of PN’s candidate, PN had racialised the pig farming issue which it said was effective in wooing the Malay electorate.
The by-election tomorrow will see a three-cornered fight among BN’s Yusri Bakir of Umno, PN’s Abd Muhaimin Malek of PAS, and Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s KS Bawani.
It follows the death on Feb 22 of Umno assemblyman Ishsam Shahruddin, who won the seat in the last general election with a 2,213-vote majority in a five-cornered contest.
