Umno should stop responding to Khairy's statements, says Khaled

JOHOR BARU: Umno should take no heed of statements made by former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, says party vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

"If I answer his (Khairy's) statement, he will not stop making statements.

"We already know that he will not say anything good about Umno," he said after chairing the Johor Umno Meeting at Pejabat Umno Johor here on Sunday (July 2).

The Kota Tinggi MP said this when asked to comment on Khairy's statement that Umno had fallen into a "dark abyss".

Earlier, Khairy, a former Umno supreme council member, added he still had an affection for the party, he was unsure if it could recover.

Mohamed Khaled said that even though there were statements saying that race-based parties were no longer relevant, Umno had continued to have a proven track record of working with other races to form the government.

"What is important is for the party to realise that Malaysia is a multi-racial country and there will be no single party that can form a government without forming a coalition," he said.

Asked to comment on Barisan Nasional's target to contest 45% of the total 245 seats in the coming six-state election, Mohamed Khaled said that the decision was made based on an agreement made by the party leaders under the unity government coalition.

"This (decision) was made based on the strategy, which I believed was based on the seats Barisan previously won or those we lost but had the second-highest vote.

"But they (party leaders) are still discussing details and we expect to hear the confirmation before nomination day," he said.

Earlier, Barisan chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was reported as saying that the party was expected to contest 45%, or about 110 of the 245 seats to be contested in the coming six state elections.