BARISAN Nasional will decide again whether to campaign in the Port Dickson by-election should PAS field a candidate, said Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa.

“For now, no decision has been made. If PAS decides to contest, the president (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) will refer the matter to the Supreme Council again,” he told a press conference today.

He added that Umno does not have official ties with PAS.

“We are just exploring the possibility of cooperation in the context of being one opposition. Any cooperation will be decided on a case by case basis,” said Annuar when asked if Umno will campaign alongside PAS in the Port Dickson by-election.

Umno said it would boycott the Port Dickson by-election after its political bureau meeting on Monday.

Although, PAS had said that it is ready to contest in Port Dickson if Umno decided to sit out the by-election, the Islamist party has yet to announce its decision.

The party is due to hold a meeting in Kuala Terengganu tonight on the by-election and an announcement is expected early tomorrow.

The by-election begins this Saturday with the nomination of candidates and polling will be held on October 13.

PKR member of parliament Danyal Balagopal Abdullah had vacated the seat for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim to contest, as part of succession plans for Anwar to eventually become the prime minister.

BN’s decision not to field a candidate was put forward mainly by Umno’s old guard, much against the wishes of younger leaders in the party.

Annuar said BN had decided not to contest the by-election as it did not want to get tangled in Pakatan Harapan’s politics.

“The by-election is not a natural one and it’s a case of just swapping one Pakatan MP for another.

“After all the money and resources spent on the general election, we don’t want to be involved in this as there may be people in Pakatan who don’t want to see Anwar Ibrahim win,” said Annuar.

On Sembrong MP Hishammuddin Hussein’s remarks that the party should contest, Annuar said that was his personal opinion.

“Before deciding, the president had consulted everyone including divisions and component parties. This is the first time, we have consulted everyone before deciding. And we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t beneficial for us,” said Annuar. – September 26, 2018.