UMNO will back Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s appointment as prime minister and will assist him to ensure the smooth running of the government, party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. 

However, Zahid added that the current government should not be a Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration, rather it should be a “Malaysian Family” government, as the prime minister said in his inaugural speech. 

“This government was formed through loose a political collaboration between Barisan Nasional, PN, GPS and PBS,” he said after a four-hour meeting at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur that went on late into the night.

It was the party’s first meeting since vice-president Ismail Sabri took office one week ago, and similarly held so soon after he unveiled his 30-member cabinet this morning.

Zahid said the party welcomed the advice of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah for bipartisan co-operation with the opposition and to address the economic crisis jointly, along with the Covid-19 pandemic and the well-being of the people.

Zahid said that the government should focus its efforts on tackling Covid-19 and improving the vaccination process to achieve herd immunity.

The president said that the other terms included are to fulfil the demands made by rakyat, including improving stimulus packages to the public, bank loan moratorium without accrued interest, one-off Employee Provident Fund i-Citra withdrawal up to RM10,000, and assistance to those in dire need.

He also said that the government must defend the role and system of parliamentary democracy as a vehicle for check and balance.

“Umno must be a pioneer in institutional reform in various branches of the government. 

“This includes making Parliament more efficient, transparent, and clean,” he said. – August 27, 2021.