PETALING JAYA,Oct 27: Former Umno president Najib Razak has warned that the party will bear the consequences if its calls for “fairer cooperation” in the Perikatan Nasional-led government are ignored.
This comes after the Umno Supreme Council said the party would continue to back the PN-led administration and not work with PKR and DAP to form a new government.
Umno also proposed that the government adopt a more inclusive approach beyond ideological differences between parties in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy.
In a Facebook post, Najib said he accepted the decision as a party leader, noting it was among one of the three options he laid out in a meeting of Umno MPs before the Supreme Council meeting.
The other two options would be to push for snap elections at a later date or work with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to form an interim government until the 15th general election.
Najib said if Umno’s call to be given a greater role in the country’s administration was not respected, the party would pay the price.
For one, he said, the anger among Umno grassroots over the “imbalance” in the party’s cooperation with PN in the government would increase.
“Umno will also be blamed when the economy worsens. Special aid for Sabah which is desperately needed is still nowhere to be seen.”
He also cited the failure to extend the loan moratorium despite repeated calls from Umno leaders and grassroots, as well as the “ineffective” plan to save the economy.
This plan, Najib said, did not even involve Umno nor any other party in PN except for PPBM.
“Umno will also be blamed when national assets are sold against the people’s wishes like the proposed merger of UEM Sunrise with EcoWorld and the sale of Felda Global Ventures even though Umno has objected to this multiple times.”
He said the party would also be blamed for “controversial” plans like the sudden proposal for an emergency, the perception that the government practises double standards, and if the Covid-19 situation does not improve, even though most of the new cases come from detention centres which are not under the purview of an Umno minister.
“As a party man, I am concerned that the temporary power we share and positions we hold in the PN government will lead to a greater defeat in GE15 even though the trend before we formed the government showed that Muafakat Nasional will win big in the next general election.
“Umno needs to be aware of this risk,” he said, adding his views came from a person who was consistently vocal against the Pakatan Harapan-led administration until it fell while many other leaders remained quiet.
