UMNO is receptive to the idea of forming an alliance with any party, including arch rivals PKR and DAP, after the general election, said Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

However, in order to form a stable government, Umno first needs to win as many seats as possible before it even thinks of finding the right partners for government he said.

“If Umno goes it alone or with Barisan Nasional (BN), assuming Umno gets a certain number of seats, we will then look at parties who have equal standing.

“If it’s Bersatu, then Bersatu it is. If it’s PAS, then PAS it is. But if it turns out to be PKR, we should think about it (and not dismiss it out of hand) because then there will be a collection of parties of equal standing.

“We can even achieve a two-thirds majority but it all depends on the outcome of the next general election,” the Johor Umno deputy chief told The Malaysian Insight.

Nur Jazlan reiterated that Umno will not work with Bersatu in the elections because it is bound to obey the will of the general assembly, which voted to end ties with Muhyiddin Yassin’s party and  withdraw from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

As for DAP, the former deputy home minister said the labels socialist or communist are not longer valid.

He said that DAP has shown it is fully capable of governing and developing a state.

He said DAP’s failure at the federal level is because Pakatan Harapan (PH) is fragile and lack Malay support.

“The issue about prejudices, about DAP being socialist and people going back to label DAP being communist and whatever… those are basically not valid today because DAP have shown that they can actually govern states like Penang and they play a major part in states like Selangor.

“What they have failed at is at federal level because the PH government that was formed in GE14 was fragile. It did not have the strong component of the Malay part.

“So if need be, after elections we must look at these combinations and throw away past prejudices about each other and form a strong government that can put the focus back on development and unity instead of going back to the previous situation where everybody focused on race and religion,” he said.

Too Malay-Muslim

The former Pulai MP said the government must be multi-racial to restore political stability.

He said the PN government of today is unable to bring people together because it is too Malay-Muslim oriented.

“We need a political party coalition that can bring everybody together and PN cannot do that because it is very heavily Malay and Muslim based.

“The cabinet today, it is 80% Malay-Muslim ministers –  too lopsided.”

On the leaked audio recording purportedly of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Anwar Ibrahim discussing plans for Umno and PKR to link up, Nur Jazlan said even if it were genuine, there was nothing wrong about two leaders exploring the possibilities for their parties.

“I do not know whether the audio tape is genuine or not. My point is, the communication should be there with anybody that wants to align their interest with us.

“We should be looking for alternatives. Looking doesn’t mean marrying or having alliances.

“If we (Umno) cannot align our interest with Bersatu and if PAS does not want to align interest with us, why shouldn’t we talk to other parties so that we can see where we find common ground?” he said.

Zahid and Anwar have denied it is them talking in the audio clip. – April 10, 2021.