PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) are afraid of being rejected by voters, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said, after by 12 of the coalition’s ministers sent a letter to reject early polls to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong yesterday.

In a Facebook post, the Umno president said PN ministers are feeling the heat, especially those who defected to the coalition after the Sheraton Move, which led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

“They are the ones who betrayed the people’s trust for benefits, be it political or for ministerial posts.

“The people are angry after they were promised heaven and earth prior to the last election, and then they decided to leave PH after winning.

“Those who defected and became ministers now realise their chances of winning are very slim,” said the Bagan Datuk MP.

Zahid has been calling for early polls and put pressure on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to seek the king’s assent to dissolve parliament.

Ismail met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong this afternoon.

In a brief post later on the Istana Negara Facebook page, the palace said the meeting discussed “matters of administration and issues related to government”.

“The pre-cabinet meeting is one of His Majesty’s weekly activities or main routines,” the post read.

Meanwhile, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man confirmed that PN ministers had sent the Agong a petition to allow for snap polls to take place next year instead of this year due to possible heavy flooding.

In confirming news reports, he said the letter was delivered to the king yesterday after a meeting of all PN component parties. 

“Yes, we sent the letter last night to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah. 

“We have yet to receive a reply to that as of now,” said the environment and water minister during a press conference. 

Speaking further, Zahid said that all PN ministers are determined to keep their posts and took aim at certain ministers who lost in the previous election only to be made senior ministers in the cabinet.

He then reminded Umno lawmakers who are keen to work with PN to not cooperate with the “enemy”.

“Umno and Barisan Nasional will not hesitate to take action as we will not accept traitors,” he added.

Several Umno MPs who were made ministers by the PN government led by Muhyiddin Yassin are pushing the party to continue working with the coalition, especially Bersatu. – October 6, 2022.