BERSATU is prepared to sever ties with Umno if the Malay party continues to be a thorn in Perikatan Nasional, said top Bersatu leaders. 

After a three-hour meeting at Bersatu’s headquarters last night, the party’s supreme council decided if Umno continues to push the envelope, they would part ways eventually.

“The ball is in their court. We are ready to sever ties and take precautionary measures if they do not want to work together with us. 

“We are unfazed by Umno’s antics,” a source told The Malaysian Insight on the condition of anonymity after the meeting. 

The supreme council meeting was chaired by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, and attended by all top party leaders, including deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu, Azmin Ali, Zuraida Kamaruddin and Ronald Kiandee. 

The meeting took place simultaneously as Umno’s working committee meeting at Putra World Trade Centre last night.

Another source meanwhile said Bersatu was prepared for an eventuality of an election being called soon and was already moving party machinery on the ground. 

“We are ready if there is going to be an election soon. We are already looking forward to strengthening PN if Umno does not want to be a part of the coalition,” the source said. 

Umno’s meeting last night decided the party will debate and decide on resolutions by the party’s divisions to cut off ties with Bersatu and to call for polls by end March during the annual general assembly, happening on January 31.

However, in a statement issued late last night, Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan said the party decided to only agree to elections once the Covid-19 situation subsides and becomes manageable. 

“Bersatu is of the view that a general election should only be held when the development of the Covid-19 pandemic is at a better and more controlled level,” he said.

Wan Saiful also took a veiled jab at Umno and urged the party to stick with the original consensus between the parties, agreed upon unanimously before the formation of the PN government in February 2020. 

“Bersatu also calls on all parties to show sincerity and express seriousness through high organisational discipline to ensure the political cooperation that has been established through PN can continue to be respected and preserved,” he said. 

The supreme council pledged to stick with PN and strengthen the newly registered coalition with other allies to be more formidable in the upcoming polls despite Umno’s grouses. 

“In the context of PN, Bersatu will continue to strengthen political cooperation with other PN member parties, namely PAS, Star and Sabah Progressive Party,” said Wan Saiful. 

He added Bersatu decided to embark on “politics of service” during the Covid-19 pandemic and floods to prove the party puts people first. 

Wan Saiful also said the party will organise a nationwide roadshow to explain current issues to the public. 

Tensions in the past few months between Umno and PN have escalated with Umno leaders claiming the party has been sidelined in the government. 

Umno refused Muhyiddin’s offer to join the PN coalition and instead asked Bersatu to join Muafakat Nasional (MN). The MN charter is made up of Umno and PAS and is seeking to be registered as an official entity. 

Last weekend, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi pledged to uphold MN and said Umno will not be a part of PN despite agreeing to form a presidential council with the other parties. 

The former ruling party’s MPs have also flirted with pledging their support to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to cause the collapse of the current PN government and forming a new one with him after. 

Anwar previously claimed he had a “strong, formidable and convincing” majority to topple the PN government but it was rumoured to have included several Umno lawmakers as well. 

Zahid had also sacked Annuar Musa as the Barisan Nasional secretary-general as the Federal Territories minister was seemingly more supportive of Bersatu over his own party, Umno. The Ketereh MP was also removed as Umno’s liaison in the MN discussions. 

In a tit-for-tat, Annuar revealed in a press conference yesterday Zahid had indeed written a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong pledging support for Anwar and wanting to form a government with nemesis DAP. – January 7, 2021.