PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has urged BN component parties to ignore personal views from within the coalition that are “not endorsed” by the top leadership.
This comes after Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Adam incurred the wrath of MCA and MIC for describing the two BN components as liabilities.
Zahid said many statements issued by party members or leaders have not been endorsed by the BN leadership.
“I feel we shouldn’t acknowledge these individual views as it will cause a perception that we are not on good terms within BN.
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While Zahid did not explicitly refer to Lokman, the latter had come under fire from MCA and MIC for his statement, with MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker saying the Umno Supreme Council member sounded like a DAP mouthpiece.
Yesterday, MCA Youth secretary-general Daniel Wa urged the party to skip the upcoming elections in six states to teach those who have become “arrogant after befriending DAP” a lesson.
Zahid said BN and Pakatan Harapan were on great terms and working well together. “The cooperation between BN and PH is at the best level yet so far,” he said.
This is despite DAP’s Tony Pua describing BN as “corrupt” at an event last Friday, prompting Umno leaders to hit out at the former Damansara MP.
DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook later condemned Pua’s remarks, saying attacks on key coalition partners in the unity government were uncalled for.
Separately, Zahid said Putrajaya was keeping a close eye on the situation in Russia following the rebellion by the Wagner mercenaries.
The deputy prime minister said 775 Malaysians were currently in Russia, and Wisma Putra would work on bringing them back home if the situation there worsened.
Yesterday, Russian officials said houses and roads had been damaged because of the Wagner rebellion. Last Friday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to topple the Russian military leadership, sparking Russia’s largest political crisis in decades.
Prigozhin ordered his forces to march on Moscow, before suddenly telling his mercenaries to turn around after Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal with him.
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