BARISAN Nasional has lost most of its component parties since its worst general election outing last month, but Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah believes the coalition remains relevant.

“It is relevant, even with a single party left because of its ideals towards the building of a united nation,” he said.

The Gua Musang MP is running for Umno president in the party polls this weekend against four others, including acting party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Penang Umno members in Seberang Jaya today, the 81-year-old Kelantan prince better known as Ku Li, said if given the mandate, he would seeks talks with the component parties that had quit BN.

Several BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak had quit last month and earlier this month. The latest to walk out was Gerakan last Saturday.

“If I am given the chance, I will talk to them about why they decided to leave.

“After all, Tun Razak created BN as an extension of the Alliance party so that we could have political peace,” he said, referring to Abdul Razak Hussein, the second prime minister and father of ousted prime minister Najib Razak.

“BN was created so that we would not politick so much but devote ourselves to nation-building efforts,” he said.

Tengku Razaleigh said it was possible that the leaders of the component parties had lost track because the coalition had lost so badly in the recent polls.

“I cannot guarantee that I will be able to pull them back into BN if I become Umno president. But we will talk to them,” he said.

In Sabah, Upko, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah and the Liberal Democratic Party walked out of BN within a week after the May 9 polls.

Sarawak BN parties Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), SUPP, PRS and PDP pulled out earlier this month.

BN, when the GE14 results were announced last month, won 79 parliamentary seats. After the walkouts, BN is left with 56.

Umno now has only 53 seats while its BN partners MIC and MCA have two and one respectively. – June 27, 2018.