An Umno Youth leader has rejected Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) offer to work with Barisan Nasional (BN) in the upcoming Melaka state election, citing the coalition’s repeated attacks on BN and Umno during the Johor and Negeri Sembilan polls.
Umno Youth secretary-general Hafiz Ariffin also accused PH of bringing up old cases and using the recently released royal commission of inquiry report on Tabung Haji to attack Umno and BN.
‘And now you want to join forces? No, thank you,’ he said in a Facebook post, stressing that the view was his personal opinion.
Hafiz questions PH’s election approach
Hafiz was commenting on a news report quoting PH election director Amirudin Shari as saying that he had contacted Melaka BN chairman Ab Rauf Yusoh over a possible alliance for the state election.
However, Amirudin said any talks would depend on the decision of Umno and BN’s central leadership.
Hafiz described PH’s offer as a two-pronged strategy aimed at ending its losing streak by aligning with the side that has support, while also serving as a ‘subtle threat’ to pile pressure on BN if it rejected the proposal.
PH suffered heavy losses in the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.
‘My advice to Melaka Youth – reject them and show them the way out,’ Hafiz said.
BN and PH remain federal allies
BN and PH are coalition allies in the federal government, but PH sits on the opposition bench in the Melaka state assembly.
The next state assembly election must be held by February next year.
BN currently holds 21 of the assembly’s 28 seats, while PH has five and Perikatan Nasional has two.
BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said the coalition will defend all 21 of its seats and remains open to discussions with any coalition.
