PETALING JAYA,Nov 25: Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general Annuar Musa says Umno needs to think about its chances of winning before asking PAS and PPBM to allocate the party more seats in the next general election.
He acknowledged that Umno deserved to contest more seats in the next polls, considering the number of elected representatives it currently has compared to PAS and PPBM, but cited the Sabah election as a point of reflection.
“Umno has to ask itself, don’t just think about wanting many seats, but can we win so many?
“In Sabah, we wanted a lot, people gave us a lot, but in the end, we didn’t win a lot. What’s important is that we win many seats,” he said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight last night.
In the Sabah election on Sept 26, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) garnered a simple majority by winning 38 of the 73 seats contested. GRS comprises Perikatan Nasional, which won 17 seats, BN (14) and PBS (seven).
Warisan Plus won 32 seats, with Warisan clinching 29, PKR two and Upko one, while independent candidates managed to win three.
Umno had contested 32 seats but only succeeded in winning 14.
Although the distribution of seats will be difficult to manage, Annuar was confident it can be resolved among Umno, PAS and PPBM .
“We must have a bigger perspective. We hope not to repeat what happened in GE14, because we’ve seen the bad that will come upon us when the Malays are split. To avoid this, we must work towards creating unity and cooperation among the Malay parties.”
However, he said, the cooperation must be widened to unite them to be stronger and for a bigger agenda, not just for seat distribution.
“When we work together, there will surely need to be tolerance and the principle of sharing. When we share, that means we sacrifice. We have to sacrifice, all sides will have to sacrifice. Let’s not give up but work hard to find a meeting point,” he said.
Annuar also said BN has decided to use its own emblem during the next general election.
He said the issue of who should be elected in a seat was ultimately in the people’s hands.
He was commenting on Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s statement that Umno needed to review its partnership with PAS and PPBM to avoid problems in the future, such as failure to agree on the distribution of seats.
