No autonomy for Umno state leaders to decide on working with PAS, Bersatu

By admin-s On Aug 19, 2022

Umno’s state and division leaders do not have the autonomy to decide on cooperation with PAS and Bersatu, says the party’s secretary-general, Ahmad Maslan.

(FMT) – Instead, he said, all parties need to refer to the Umno general assembly in March 2021, when it was decided that Barisan Nasional would contest the next general election (GE15) on its own.

“So far, we are sticking to the decision reached at the general assembly. The decision applies to everyone, and there are no exceptions.

“The decision has not been changed (and) it is one reached at the highest level. The assembly did not mention any states getting exceptions,” he told Utusan Malaysia.

It was previously reported that Selangor Umno was hoping for autonomy to cooperate with PAS ahead of GE15 through the Muafakat Nasional (MN) alliance.

However, Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar also said there was a possibility that there would be no such cooperation due to PAS’ decision to continue working with Perikatan Nasional (PN), breaking the agreement on seats distribution under MN.

Asked how confident he was that BN could win Selangor in GE15, Ahmad said the results of the recent Melaka and Johor state elections proved the public’s support for the coalition.

“So, I hope we will be able to win Selangor as well as some other states,” he said.