PETALING JAYA Feb 6 : Senior Umno politician Annuar Musa has played down Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that a government by a PPBM-Umno-PAS coalition would be a “disaster”. Annuar said any complications among them could be ironed out.
Annuar, a former secretary-general of Barisan Nasional and Umno, agreed that there were complications in the relationship between Umno and PPBM; however, ties between Umno and PAS were solid.
While there were bound to be differences in views among the three parties, he was confident Umno would be able to resolve them.
“Tun’s (Mahathir) prediction that a coalition would be fragile is not very accurate as you can say that Umno and PAS have a good understanding, and there are (just) a few complications between Umno and Bersatu (PPBM),” said Annuar at a press conference in Kota Bharu today, Malaysiakini reported.
“I am confident that Umno can manage the difference in opinions, and most importantly, Umno must have a formula and strategy to win the general elections,” he added.
On Thursday, Mahathir had said in an interview with FMT that the current ties between PPBM, Umno and PAS were merely for “political expedience”.
Stating that the three parties had competing ideas for the direction of the country, the two-time prime minister said it would be a “disaster” if the trio were to form a government because each would be “pulling in its own way”.
Mahathir also predicted the parties would face tough negotiations for seats in the next general election, adding that he expected infighting if a consensus could not be reached.
