PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has urged members of Barisan Nasional (BN) not to be involved in “cah keting” (sabotage) if they are not nominated as a candidate in the 2022 general election.

The Umno vice-president said those who are not nominated should accept the party’s decision with an open heart and not indulge in “cah keting” because through such activities could cause BN to be defeated even in its own stronghold.

“What’s worrying about ‘cah keting’ is, we (BN) are not weak, but due to self-sabotage, we fail in our strongholds. If all this while we make fiery speeches about making sacrifices, prove it on November 5 (nomination day). If you are not nominated, support those who are contesting,” he said at the Solidarity, Stability and Prosperity programme and the launch of the Terengganu BN machinery today.

Ismail said to ensure that BN wins back Terengganu, it needs to avoid disunity and the machinery must work hard.

He also hoped that BN would recapture the Hulu Terengganu seat because it originally belonged to the coalition, but was “robbed” by the parliamentary incumbent who jumped ship.

Hulu Terengganu MP Rosol Wahid, who won the seat on a Umno ticket, left the party to join Bersatu after the 2018 general election.

Meanwhile, Ismail said he decided to dissolve parliament to make way for snap polls because he adheres to principles and it was important to maintain stability and prosperity in the country.

He said it was feared that political turmoil would cause economic instability, which in turn would affect the people.

“The dissolution of parliament was because I could already see disunity in my cabinet when 12 ministers wrote a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong asking His Majesty to reject the dissolution.

“These people will bow to their party president and there may be other instructions after that. So, before they withdrew their support, I pressed the button,” he said.

According to Ismail, the said Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers could withdraw their support for him and cause the government to fall since the parties they represent have more seats than BN.

“We (BN) have 42 (seats) which means we are not very strong. They (PN) could have withdrawn at that time, even with five pulling out, the government would have fallen. So I discussed with the top five, we needed to dissolve to form a more dominant government,” he said. – Bernama, October 21, 2022.