IPOH: Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan must continue to uphold the “sincerity pact” to ensure a continuous win in the 16th General Election, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Barisan chairman said the sincerity pact could be maintained if the grassroots continue to move and work together to ensure continuous support, and not just fight for positions.
Elaborating on the sincerity pact, the Deputy Prime Minister said that before the Unity Government could be established at the federal level, Perak was the first state to form the unity government, and thus it all started from here.
He said despite Pakatan winning 24 state seats, and Barisan only nine, they made way sincerely for Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad from Umno to become the Mentri Besar, when they could pick a Mentri Besar from their coalition.
“Not only in Perak, but Pahang too where both Barisan and Perikatan Nasional had the same number of seats, and the support from Pakatan made it possible for the Mentri Besar from Barisan to be sworn in.
“That sincerity tied us together at that time, and the same sincerity today has brought us towards the beacon of success.
“I always tell myself that to gain success is difficult, but to uphold it is even harder,” he said in his speech at the closing of the Perak Unity Government’s convention held at Casuarina Meru Hotel here Sunday (Jan 28).
The convention was closed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Ahmad Zahid said despite having 153 MPs standing strong with the unity government, this does not mean they could be in a comfortable zone.
“I am confident that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the support from parliamentarians would continue to increase, as to ensure that the Madani government continues to remain strong at the federal level.
“In the context of Perak, I am confident under the leadership of Saarani, Barisan will not just leave with nine seats, but will gain more seats come the next elections,” he added.
Ahmad Zahid also congratulated Saarani, as last year the state recorded a huge revenue of RM1.21bil, the highest for the state.
“Divine intervention had determined that the Prime Minister become the MP for Tambun, and thus more projects would be brought into Perak for development purposes.
“I am confident that if we give our full support to the Prime Minister, without asking, when the time comes, he would know how to make distributions to Perak,” he added.
