UMNO has not decided whether it will cooperate with PAS under the Muafakat Nasional (MN) umbrella in the Johor elections, Mohamad Hasan said today.

The party deputy president said although the party’s Johor chapter has expressed the intention of Barisan Nasional going solo in the state polls, the matter is up for discussion by the party’s central committee and Supreme Council.

“We have not decided (whether to work with PAS under MN).

“But according to what the Johor Umno liaison committee chairman and Johor BN chairman (Hasni Mohammad) has said, they are more likely to go it alone.

“We will discuss this at the central committee level and will decide in our special Supreme Council meeting on how to deal with this Johor state election,” Mohamad told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Mohamad was present in court today when Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was ordered to enter a defence to 47 charges of misappropriation of funds from a charity organisation.

Yesterday Hasni said BN was considering going solo in the Johor elections as it was confident of winning two-thirds of the 56 state seats.

Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Hussin yesterday said he was hopeful Umno would stand with PAS in MN in the state elections. 

In the Malacca polls last year, PAS opted to tie up with Bersatu and contest under the Perikatan Nasional banner. It lost all of the eight seats it contested.

Earlier today, Mohamad said Umno intended to field candidates in 42 of the 56 state seats in Johor.

On whether the opposition would gain an advantage against Umno from a court order today for the party president Zahid to enter a defence to charges of corruption, Mohamad said he is not worried. 

“Cases involving the prosecution (of leaders) in court are already a diluted (issue).

“It has been two to three years now. How far do people want to use court cases (to discredit leaders)? 

“I don’t think this will be an important factor (in the elections),” he said. 

On Saturday, Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar consented to the dissolution of the state assembly, paving the way for state polls.  – January 24, 2022.