PH-BN Combo Can Win Big In Sabah Polls – UMNO Sec-Gen

TANJONG KARANG, July 13 (Bernama) -- Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) can secure a big win in the next Sabah state election if they join forces, based on trends in past elections, said UMNO secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

He said the cooperation between the two coalitions has become a benchmark, as this element was key to their significant wins in three state by-elections -- Ayer Kuning in Perak, Mahkota in Johor and Nenggiri in Kelantan.

“We’ve seen how we managed to win in polling districts that we had never won before, particularly in areas with non-Malay majorities, all because of this cooperation.

“So why should we be arrogant and refuse to work with others? UMNO is an open and dynamic party,” he told reporters after opening the Tanjong Karang UMNO division delegates meeting here today.

Asyraf Wajdi further said that negotiations between PH and BN for cooperation in the Sabah state election have reached 98 per cent completion.

Meanwhile, Asyraf Wajdi said UMNO is optimistic about recapturing the Tanjong Karang parliamentary seat in the 16th General Election (GE16).

He said the seat is considered a priority after UMNO’s defeat in the last general election.

“To win, the formula is clear — we must return to UMNO’s core values: unity, loyalty and faith. Unity means there should be no factions within the party.

“Tanjong Karang was a seat we had never lost until the last general election. So, our focus is to make it one of the key seats to win back,” he said.

In GE15, the Tanjong Karang seat was won by Datuk Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi of Perikatan Nasional with a majority of 2,180 when he polled 18,054 votes.

Dr Zulkafperi, who is now an independent, beat BN's Datuk Habibah Mohd Yusof (15,874 votes) and PH's Siti Rahayu  (12,314 votes).

-- BERNAMA