PENANG Umno would rather face three-concerned fights in the 15th general election than cooperate with Bersatu, said state liaison chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir.

Umno will defend the seats it won in the last election, including those where legislators defected to Bersatu, he said after officiating the Bukit Mertajam Umno division meeting in Prai, today.

Penang Umno will only negotiate seats with PAS, its ally under Mustafar Nasional, he said.

“If PAS is with us, we have the strength. Bersatu can go ahead and challenge us, it is okay.

“We have our strategy and strength,” he said in a press conference after the division meeting.

Among the seats that Umno is eyeing is the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat, which Shabudin Yahaya won in 2018 on a Barisan Nasional ticket. 

“Do you want me to share with Bersatu?

“He won on Umno’s ticket. How can we give the seat to him? If there is no seat negotiation, how do we cooperate?”

Shabudin later defected to Bersatu and he is now deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in the Perikatan Nasional government, which is led by Bersatu.

He was a BN lawmaker since 2013 but joined Bersatu in 2018, when the latter was still with Pakatan Harapan. Bersatu then formed a new government in March this year by pulling out of PH and aligning with other parties, including Umno and PAS.

Penang Umno’s stand against cooperating with Bersatu inGE15 is similar to several other state chapters and divisions, which have been holding their annual meetings ahead of the annual general meeting on January 30 and 31.

The Pagoh Umno division today even called for a candidate to be fielded against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in the constituency.

Muhyiddin, a former Umno stalwart, has held the seat as a BN rep for six terms, before he quit the party in 2016 to help form Bersatu, which was then aligned to Pakatan Harapan.

Umno elections director Tajuddin Abdul Rahman was also reported as saying yesterday at the Pasir Salak division meeting that Umno would reject any cooperation with Bersatu in GE15.

The enmity between Umno and Bersatu, although both are in government together, involves betrayal by Umno lawmakers who quit party for Bersatu after the latter won the general election and formed the federal government in 2018.

And although Umno is in government now, it accuses the much smaller Bersatu, whose president is Muhyiddin, of sidelining it.

In Penang today, Musa said Umno would focus on working with PAS.

“With PAS, we are able to compromise.”  – January 3, 2021.