UMNO president Zahid Hamidi’s decision to not work with Bersatu is “premature”, said Annuar Musa.

In a Facebook post, the federal territories minister said a lot of things may happen between now and when an election is called.

“In a time when we have to have an election, this decision has made Umno a ‘lame duck’, with weakened power to negotiate in the government.

“Those who will have to pay the price will be the grassroots”, said the former Umno secretary general.

Annuar in his posting said there was no need to quietly send letters to each other.

“When we decided to work together we didn’t have to send letters to one another, there is no need to do that now that we’ve decided not to.

“The election is not going to be held anytime soon, many things can happen. This decision has put us in a disadvantage”, he said.

Zahid had conveyed Umno’s decision not to work with Bersatu in a letter to Prime Minister and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin on February 26.

The letter said the Umno Supreme Council decided during its meeting in Janda Baik on February 19 to reject any political cooperation with Bersatu in GE15. 

“Umno, however, has decided it will remain in the PN government until Parliament is dissolved,” said the letter signed by Zahid. 

The Bersatu supreme council will meet today to decide on Umno’s decision not to work with the party in the next election, said Hamzah Zainudin. 

“The meeting will discuss Umno’s decision to stop cooperating with Bersatu in GE15 but to support the Perikatan Nasional government until Parliament is dissolved,” said the Bersatu secretary-general in a statement today.

He said Umno’s decisions will also be discussed at the PN supreme council meeting that includes PAS, Star, SAPP and Gerakan. 

Hamzah, however, did not say when the PN meeting will be held. 

Yesterday, Annuar asked why party members have not been informed on the matter, if the letter had been sent to Bersatu to convey the decision.

“As members we have the right to know if the news is true. If it’s true why have members not been told? 

“Members have to know if the decision was made by the council. Members have to know its rationale as we don’t know when the next general election will be held,” he said in a Facebook post. 

Annuar said he found it baffling that the council had made the decision not to work with Bersatu, having earlier said it will be decided by the party’s delegates at the annual general assembly. 

“Why make the decision before the assembly?” he asked.

The party’s Supreme Council had on January 6 said its annual general assembly will decide on whether to continue working with Bersatu. 

The assembly, slated for the end of January, is now set for March 27 and 28, after being cancelled twice as a result of movement-order restrictions. – March 4, 2021.