SEREMBAN: There is no problem between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan at the federal level, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Deputy Prime Minister was asked what he meant by the pantun he recited on Thursday in reply to one posted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“That pantun was to answer the pantun sold to me by the Prime Minister. So I bought that pantun with what I said in mine,” he said after visiting Kampung Tohor in Chennah here on Friday (July 24), referring to the Malay convention of trading verses.
“I do not see any problem. On Wednesday we held the Cabinet meeting. The relationship is very, very cordial,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid said ministers from both coalitions were a professional group able to separate national issues from state ones.
“It is only the state election. Our priority is handling national issues, and we are handling these well. There is no difference of views at all, let alone on the implementation of policies,” he said.
Anwar posted his pantun on Facebook on Wednesday alongside photographs from the Cabinet meeting, with a line about taking different steps without breaking off a friendship.
Ahmad Zahid replied with a verse of his own at a press conference in Balik Pulau, Penang, on Thursday, invoking a roof that can be held down until a storm carries it out to sea.
The exchange followed Anwar’s remark that government office holders who attacked unity government partners while campaigning should step down, and Ahmad Zahid’s response that the Prime Minister could sack the eight Barisan Nasional full ministers if he was unhappy with them.
