In an interview with FMT, Mohamad, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) deputy chairman, disclosed that the party had tried to avoid clashing with its Muafakat Nasional (MN) ally.
“We reached out to PAS to ask it to be with us,” Mohamad said. “We offered it seats although it did not win anything in Melaka in GE14.”
In the Nov 20 state election, Umno and PAS will clash in seven contests.
Melaka has 23 Malay-majority seats and Mohamad said BN was willing to contest just 18 seats, with the rest going to PAS on the condition that the Islamist party use its own logo to avoid confusing voters.
“But PAS chose to contest under the Perikatan Nasional logo. So we considered it a rejection of our offer.”
But he said this did not mean the end of MN as the alliance was not limited to politics and was aimed at uniting Malays and Muslims.
“Whatever happens, even if Umno and BN need to go it alone in GE15, the agenda of unifying Malays and Islam will go on.”
But he said politics was dynamic and that the two parties could work together for GE15.
“Perhaps in GE15, Umno and PAS can find a suitable formula for working together. Why not?”
On BN’s campaign, Mohamad said some early unhappiness over the choice of candidates had been resolved.
Only four of BN’s 28 candidates in the state election are incumbents. The rest are fresh faces.
“The people have warmed up to our candidates,” Mohamad claimed. “We have many new faces, including professionals, and this has made them acceptable.”
He said the main challenge to campaigning was the strict Covid-19 rules.
“Umno’s strength is its grassroots. So the SOPs make campaigning difficult. It’s a setback for us but we have started to adjust.”
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