SERDANG: Perikatan Nasional is not ruling out teaming up with other parties that view Barisan Nasional as a “common enemy” in the upcoming general election, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The Perikatan chairman acknowledged that entering the elections with multi-cornered fights might make it difficult to defeat Barisan, and said the coalition is open to collaborations.
“If there are certain parties that want to discuss with us, we are open.
“The main enemy here is Barisan. These never-ending problems related to abuse of power and corruption are not good for the country.
“If another party has a similar aim as us, which is to avoid the country falling to these problems, then we need to discuss how to avoid multi-cornered fights that could affect our chances,” Muhyiddin said at a press conference after Perikatan Convention 2022 here yesterday.
However, he was non-committal when asked if collaborating with Barisan is an impossibility.
“It’s hard to say. There are so many ifs. I would not rule it out nor welcome it.
“The situation is dynamic. There are fallouts within Umno. Politics, after all, is a game of possibilities,” said Muhyiddin, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president.
He added that if faced with no choice but to enter into multi-cornered fights in the elections, Muhyiddin said Perikatan is ready to duel with its own strengths.
Perikatan, he said, would ensure its candidates only consist of individuals with good credentials and untainted backgrounds.
“Our potential candidates must be screened first to ensure their background is clean. We did that during the Melaka and Johor elections, and I do not think any other party did the same.
“This will convince voters to choose our candidates,” he added.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said calls by a Terengganu PAS delegate to allow the Islamist party to contest under its own logo in the state would be considered.
However, he opined that it would be better if all parties under the coalition contest under the same logo.
“We will discuss this and come up with the best possible outcome. Personally, I feel it is better that we all use the same Perikatan logo.
“PAS has also contested under our logo in the Johor, Sabah and Melaka elections, and we can’t say the people don’t recognise our logo.
“We introduced the logo in Sabah two weeks prior to the election and we won the state,” he said.
Earlier, during the debates at the convention, Terengganu Perikatan election director Ariffin Deraman called for the coalition’s leadership to allow PAS to contest with its own logo for GE15.
He said this was not because they rejected Perikatan, but noted how politics at the national level and on the east coast of the peninsula were different.
“The PAS flag has helped the party win in elections, including in GE14 when it managed to capture Terengganu,” he added.
Perak Perikatan deputy chairman Razman Zakaria, who is also Perak PAS commissioner, said the coalition’s top leadership must finalise the names of individuals to be fielded as Perikatan candidates as well as the logo to be used at GE15.
“To win, we have to plan. We are facing the GE15 and the distribution of seats must be finalised as soon as possible,” he said in his speech at the convention.
The one-day event involved all Perikatan component parties, namely Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan, Sabah STAR and Sabah Progressive Party.
Sharing Razman’s sentiment was Kedah Perikatan exco member Afnan Taib, who not only proposed that the party leadership review the logo, but also the colour of the flag to avoid confusion among the voters.
