THE newly minted Umno-PAS charter will see Barisan Nasional (BN) win the Tanjung Piai by-election, says Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan.

He said it will be a straight fight with Pakatan Harapan (PH) as a three-cornered fight has been eliminated with PAS now being in Umno’s corner.

“In the coming Tanjung Piai by election, Umno will pick up 20,000 votes, PH 21,000 votes. PAS should pick up 3,000 votes. But if PAS is not in the race, we will win,” Mohamad was quoted as saying by the Malaysia Gazette news portal.

Mohamad, fondly called Tok Mat, said the charter Umno signed with PAS was to unite the Malay-Muslim vote and stop the division in the community.

“We must strategise. We must not forget why we lost the last time. We lost because the Malays were divided.

“Two big parties, Umno and PAS, were competing. When there is this type of competition, PH easily won many seats.

“We lost 30 parliamentary seats because of this,” he was quoted as saying.

The by-election will be held within the next 60 days following the death of Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (National Unity and Social Wellbeing) Md Farid Md Rafik last Saturday.

The Malay-majority seat was previously held by MCA for three terms before losing to Bersatu’s Md Farid, who wrested it from BN in the last election.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said the party would discuss with its BN partners on who to field for the seat.

Going by the constituency’s breakdown by race, it is highly likely the former ruling pact will name a candidate from Umno.

In the Cameron Highlands by-election earlier this year, BN went with an Orang Asli candidate instead of one from MIC, a decision that worked in the coalition’s favour.

Umno and PAS had, at the time, worked together to drum up support for Ramli Mohd Nor, setting the stage for co-operation in subsequent by-elections in Semenyih and Rantau.

Yesterday in a Facebook post, Umno vice-president and former Johor menteri besar Khaled Nordin said Umno and PAS should not be bound by history letting MCA contest Tanjung Piai. https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/185590

He said telling Umno and PAS they should let MCA recontest the seat to prove that they are multicultural smacked of shallow thinking.

“Such thinking only proves that we have not moved beyond viewing issues from a racial perspective.”

The national accord between Umno and PAS must end such outdated paradigms, he said.

“Only the best candidate should be fielded in the Tanjung Piai by-election. This candidate must be someone who will represent Umno, MCA, MIC, PAS and all those who believe in the national accord.”

The candidate should be picked based on his ability to be the best representative in Parliament and not from the biggest party or largest race, he added.

“Failing which, BN and the national accord (between Umno and PAS) will be trapped by a political formula that is unrealistic.”

Khaled, currently in Taiwan, was responding to speculation on which party will contest the by-election.

He is among the favoured to contest the seat although having lost his state and federal seats in the last election. – September 25, 2019.