Barisan supreme council to have final word on any GE16 pact, says Tok Mat

SEREMBAN: The Barisan Nasional supreme council will make the final decision if the coalition will work with Pakatan Harapan in the next general election, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

The Umno deputy president said decisions made by Barisan had always been in the spirit of consensus.

"That has always been our SOP (standard operating procedure)," he told reporters when met after opening the Rembau Umno annual general meeting here on Sunday (July 7).

Mohamad said the matter would be discussed by the supreme council to allay confusion among the component parties.

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"I am also certain that (Umno president) Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Barisan chairman, will bring this up for discussion.

"The decision has to be a collective one. Until a decision is taken, many people are going to speculate," he said.

On June 30, Ahmad Zahid said Barisan would continue to work with Pakatan in the run-up to the 16th General Election.

He told a press conference after opening a Maran Umno division meeting in Pahang that both Barisan and Pakatan would contest using their respective logos in GE16, and that Barisan would not go into areas where Pakatan is contesting.

Barisan is made up of Umno, MCA, MIC and PBRS.

ALSO READ: ‘MCA and MIC were not consulted’

Following Ahmad Zahid's announcement, the secretaries-general of MCA and MIC said that Barisan component parties were not consulted on the matter.

Another disputed point was Ahmad Zahid’s announcement that Barisan would not throw its hat in the ring where Pakatan partners are contesting.

Mohamad said the component parties can always raise the matter at the next meeting of the supreme council.

"If they have other views, these can always be discussed.

"But it is better to make an early decision so that all component party members will know (for sure) rather than continue to speculate," he said.

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On a separate matter, Mohamad said the unity government will need to look at the issues that caused its candidate to lose by a bigger margin in the Sg Bakap by-election than in last year's Penang state election.

"We know that Sg Bakap is a PAS stronghold but we need to study why we lost by a bigger margin.

"We all know there are several contributing factors to this such as the voter turnout, and we need to take stock," he added.

Mohamad said all parties need to be fully prepared to face any polls be it a by-election or general election.

He said Umno had already started the ball rolling following Ahmad Zahid's recent visit to Kelantan.

He also urged all Umno divisions to start identifying GE16 candidates.

"Start identifying two or three potential candidates so they can start working and get to know their constituents.

"We cannot be introducing our candidates during the campaigning period," he said, adding that voters should already know who the party’s candidates are at least a year before the election is called.

He said Umno divisions should also start looking at potential candidates on the quiet.

"Umno previously lost seats simply because some members of a division were not prepared to accept the candidate and resorted to closing down operations rooms at certain polling centres," he said.