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The Umno Supreme Council member said Pakatan Harapan (PH) relied on such tactics during the last general election, playing on the negative perceptions surrounding the 1MDB scandal.
“However, the people are wise to it and won’t be fooled a second time,” he said in an interview with Hello Malaysia.
“They (the opposition) still haven’t found an issue powerful enough to topple the government.”
Puad said PH had attempted to use the troubled littoral combat ship (LCS) project as evidence of the current administration’s failings yet the issue did not stick.
“They failed to exploit the LCS issue in the manner that they did with 1MDB,” he said.
Last month, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the controversy surrounding the procurement of six navy frigates in the LCS project could delay GE15.
The delay would prevent the opposition from turning the issue into a political weapon as PH did with the 1MDB scandal in 2018. PH toppled the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the national polls then.
GE15 has to be held by September next year, but some Umno leaders have pressed for it to be called this year, following convincing victories for BN at recent state elections.
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had previously rubbished the opposition’s claims of inflation and floods as reasons to delay the polls.
He said the reasons were weak and they (the opposition) were attempting to buy more time.
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