BARISAN Nasional (BN) is not perturbed by the rebellious talk by two of its heavyweight leaders who were dropped from contesting in the coming general election, Ahmad Maslan said.

The Umno secretary-general said any fallout from the axing of big wigs can be handled by the coalition.

“We announced more than 100 names picked to contest… only two are making some noise, so it is a very small problem and we are handling it,” he was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.

“Other parties are also facing their own problems and we read about it all the time. There are many other places where we have no problems whatsoever, so we need to concentrate on winning those. 

“If they (the rebels) close their bilik gerakan (operations centres), the new candidates will open their own. If they take down the flags, we will raise new ones… it is not a big problem.

“That is why it is not something which has spread all over. It is not a wildfire… it is just a small fire.”

BN’s candidates’ list was unveiled by Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last night with several ministers being dropped.

They are Annuar Musa, Shahidan Kassim, Adham Baba and Halimah Mohamed Sadique.

Shahidan has since declared that he is going to defend the Arau seat despite being dropped while Annuar has also posted cryptic messages on social media that he will contest under the Muafakat Nasional banner. – November 2, 2022.