That’s Tajuddin’s personal view, Umno says on supporting Anwar

(FMT) – Several Umno members say supreme council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s take on supporting Anwar Ibrahim if the latter has a formula to make all parties happy is “his personal view”.

Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin told FMT it was Tajuddin’s personal view and declined to comment further.

Umno veteran Shahidan Kassim told FMT that Tajuddin was free to state his personal views.

He said it would be best for Umno to discuss its demands with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin first.

“If we want a (Cabinet) reshuffle or anything else, it is better to discuss with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin first.”

This was because, he said, working with Anwar was the same as working with DAP. “We don’t want to work with DAP,” he added.

Umno Supreme Council member Razlan Rafii said cooperation with Anwar was not discussed during the five hour closed-door meeting of party officials last night.

He added that several views were shared among Umno members last night, including the possibility of not being in the Cabinet but continuing to support Muhyiddin as the prime minister.

“We may not push for snap polls after the surge in Covid-19 cases,” he said.

But he did not state if he supported or rejected Tajuddin’s views.

However, Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan said he was against the idea.

“How can the party possibly justify supporting our opponent just because things may not be hunky dory with current partners (PPBM)? What credibility would we have left in the eyes of the public?” he asked.

“We will see what happens when the Umno Supreme Council meets,” he added.

Earlier, Tajuddin, who is also an Umno Supreme Council member, said it was not impossible for his party to throw its support behind the PKR president to form a new government.

Speaking to Astro Awani, he said other parties could also lend the opposition leader their support if they felt that he was able to offer them a suitable “formula”.

Tajuddin had also said the PN coalition did not look like it could last long, adding that this was why Putrajaya should ensure powers to govern the nation were divided equally among component parties and allies.

Yesterday, Anwar, after meeting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, had said he had the backing of 120 MPs to form a new government.

Also yesterday, Umno said the party was mulling over pulling out of Perikatan Nasional.