The proposed Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance has backfired badly

By Raja Petra Kamarudin On Mar 24, 2021

Umno’s future lies with a coalition, either a coalition with Perikatan Nasional or a coalition with Pakatan Harapan. Some say Umno does not need any coalition and that on its own Umno can contest all 800 or so state and parliament seats in GE15 in three-corner contests and win enough seats to form the government. Those who say that have taken leave of their senses.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In September 2020, Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi declared that the Barisan Nasional MPs are free to back Anwar Ibrahim for PM9 if they wish to.

In October 2020, Zahid and Najib Tun Razak jointly-signed a letter addressed to Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong confirming support for Anwar as PM9.

Anwar signed a similar letter addressed to Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong confirming that he has the majority support from both Umno and Pakatan Harapan to take over as PM9.

Both letters were drafted by PKR Secretary-General Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Anwar Ibrahim delivered them by hand to His Majesty the Agong. His Majesty then came out with an announcement regarding the audience and about what Anwar said in the meeting.

His Majesty added that Anwar did not show any proof he had the numbers, though. Anwar just said he had the numbers without showing any evidence.

Umno then denied the letter to the Agong and said it is fake. However, Malaysia Today has a certified true copy of that letter, which proves the letter is not fake. Hence Umno’s denial is a lie.

Over the last six months, a number of DAP, PKR and Umno leaders have created the impression and have made many announcements stating that the door to an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance is open and there is a very strong possibility Umno and Pakatan Harapan will form an alliance to contest against PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu (PPBM) in the next general election.

Some state Umno chiefs — such as Terengganu — have even announced that Umno will never form any alliance with PAS-PPBM (or Perikatan Nasional) and it is going to be open warfare in all 40 state and parliament seats.

There is no confusion as to the message being delivered to Malaysians over the last six months. Umno is NOT with Perikatan Nasional. Perikatan Nasional is just PAS and PPBM. Umno is with Pakatan Harapan. And Umno-Pakatan Harapan is going to fight against Perikatan Nasional in GE15.

To convince his party that it is not immoral for PKR to work with Umno (after what they had said about Umno in the run-up to GE14 in May 2018), Anwar even told his party in a closed-door meeting that Najib is NOT guilty of stealing 1MDB’s money and that he is merely a victim of selective persecution.

To make it clear that the Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance is going to happen, Anwar announced that he is talking to Zahid and Najib to finalise the terms of the deal. The deal is on for sure, only the terms are being sorted out.

And, today, the message that we are being given is that Umno is NOT talking to Pakatan Harapan and will not form any alliance with Pakatan Harapan.

So why give the impression over the last six months that an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance is on the cards? Why have an audience with the Agong in October last year to convince His Majesty that Umno backs Anwar to take over as PM9 (backed with two letters on top of that)?

The denial today is actually not a denial. It is a U-turn. Yes, initially there was a plan for an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance. That is not fake news. And the two letters to the Agong are also not fake. They do exist and Malaysia Today has the certified true copy of the letter signed by Zahid and Najib.

But since September last year, those in Umno pushing for an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance realise that the move is backfiring badly. So, they need to pretend that there was never any intention for an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance in the first place.

But why take six months to deny it? And why send an official letter to the Agong to inform His Majesty that Umno backs Anwar to take over as PM9? Why create the impression and fuel that impression over six months and then deny there was any plan for an Umno-Pakatan Harapan alliance?

The bottom line is, they now realise that Anwar does not have 135 MPs with him, as he claimed. Anwar led a protest outside parliament and only 65 MPs turned up, not 135 MPS. The protest was about the Emergency, but the real intention was to demonstrate that Anwar has the support of 135 MPs.

The demonstration backfired badly. Instead of proving that Anwar has 135 MPs with him, it proved the opposite. Furthermore, Umno is now so badly split it may never recover from the disaster of GE14.

Umno’s future lies with a coalition, either a coalition with Perikatan Nasional or a coalition with Pakatan Harapan. Some say Umno does not need any coalition and that on its own Umno can contest all 800 or so state and parliament seats in GE15 in three-corner contests and win enough seats to form the government. Those who say that have taken leave of their senses.

If Umno goes solo and engages both Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional in three-corner contests all over Malaysia, Umno, PAS and Bersatu will all get wiped out in GE15 and Pakatan Harapan will sweep in at both federal and state levels, except maybe in Terengganu and Kelantan.

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(Malaysia Now, 23 Mar 2021) – Anwar Ibrahim today urged former attorney-general Tommy Thomas to explain why Umno MPs who jumped to Bersatu during the Pakatan Harapan administration were spared prosecution despite being accused of receiving 1MDB funds.

This follows the PKR president’s meeting with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today, where he said he was told by its chief commissioner Azam Baki that the agency had conducted a transparent investigation before the AG at that time decided not to press charges.

Anwar said he was not satisfied with the answer, adding that both the former and current AGs must respond to his claim that those supporting the government were spared charges.

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(Malaysia Now, 24 Mar 2021) – Anwar Ibrahim’s recent claim that Umno leaders were spared from corruption investigations after they left the party to join Bersatu under the Pakatan Harapan administration is no surprise going by his recent closed-door meetings with party leaders, a highly reliable source close to PKR told MalaysiaNow.

It said during a meeting with PKR MPs last week, Anwar not only defended his overtures to Najib Razak, but also claimed that the former prime minister was a victim of selective prosecution during the 22-month administration of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The source told MalaysiaNow that during the meeting on March 16 with PKR MPs and state leaders in Petaling Jaya, Anwar explained his discussions with Umno for a possible political cooperation.

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(The Star, 24 Mar 2021) – Umno will not be cooperating with PKR in the next general election and will only be working with its fellow component parties under the Barisan Nasional banner.

Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the party did not have any discussions with PKR on election cooperation and any potential pact would only be explored post-GE15.

This comes a week after PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said there were discussions between the parties.

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(The Straits Times Singapore, 21 Oct 2020) – Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is in the firing line after declaring his support for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, facing backlash from leaders within his own party as well as its allies in Malaysia’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

The Straits Times understands that talks scheduled for Monday night between the pro-Malay Muslim parties in the Muafakat Nasional (MN) alliance – Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and Umno – were abandoned at the 11th hour after a stand-off with Zahid.

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(The Star, 23 Sep 2020) – Umno will not stop its MPs from backing PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister, says Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic).

The Umno president said he was informed that some Umno and Barisan Nasional MPs had expressed their support for Anwar.

“I respect their stand,” Zahid said on Wednesday (Sept 23).

Zahid added that Umno and Barisan were not components of Perikatan Nasional, but supported it in Parliament.