SUNGAI BULOH, July 12 (Bernama) -- UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi stressed today that UMNO will not abandon its component partners in Barisan Nasional (BN), MCA, MIC and Friends of BN, no matter what the situation.
The BN chairman also urged component parties not to be hasty nor threaten to leave the coalition in light of current political challenges.
“I tell my (component) partners, currently it’s tough, MIC has one seat, MCA has two and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) one seat in Sabah. We (UMNO) also have it tough, only 26 seats, used to be 64 and before then over a hundred.
“In times of trouble, UMNO will not abandon MCA, MIC, PBRS or Friends of BN. This is our way, don’t threaten to leave during hard times,” he said during his speech officiating the Selayang UMNO Division delegates’ meeting here today.
He also denied allegations that BN component parties like MCA were sidelined in seat allocations, including Malay-majority seats, during a media conference after the meeting, pointing out that MCA and MIC were entrusted with contesting in traditional Malay seats.
“Which Malay-majority seat do we not give to MCA? Tanjung Piai isn’t a Malay seat? Or Ayer Hitam isn’t a Malay seat? All Malay seats that we give to MCA means we respect them.
“MCA is a loyal BN component partner since a long time back, that’s what we will preserve. The same with seats to MIC, all Malay seats we give are entrusted to them to contest,” he said.
Previous media reports had stated that former MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker was urging the party to not be sidelined during the 16th general election and needed to be given suitable seats to prove their relevance, including Malay-majority seats.
In other developments, Ahmad Zahid urged those who were pressing for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to resign to respect the legal process and democratic system in the country, pointing out that Anwar currently enjoyed the support of 154 MPs, or over two-thirds majority.
-- BERNAMA
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