Nazri Wants Muhyiddin To Return And Take Over As Umno President

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Umno's Padang Rengas MP Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has proposed for Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin return to Umno and take over from Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as party president
Nazri argued this would resolve the bulk of the problems with seat allocation within Perikatan Nasional for the 15th general election
"Muhyiddin did not leave us (Umno) but he was sacked. If he returns to us, he would be making a big contribution as he would bring the position of prime minister to Umno
"The issue of what will happen to the (current) Umno president does not arise because the priority is the party. We should accept (Muhyiddin) with open arms," said Nazri as quoted by Astro Awani
Muhyiddin was sacked from Umno in 2016 after he questioned then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB scandal
Muhyiddin, together with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other Umno rebels, later formed the Umno splinter party Bersatu
Bersatu, together with its Pakatan Harapan coalition allies and Warisan, defeated Umno and BN in the 2018 general election. The incumbent government had been in power since 1957
However, the Harapan government collapsed in late February after Muhyiddin pulled Bersatu out to form a new coalition with PKR defectors, BN, PAS, GPS, PBS, and STAR
Muhyiddin was sworn in (photo) as the new prime minister after Mahathir refused to lead the new coalition as the latter had adamantly refused to work with Umno, a party which he led for 22 years and later fought against when Najib was in power
Nazri added that sacrifices should be made in the name of race and religion
"As Malays, we should be forgiving in the name of religion, race, and country," he said
He also said Muhyiddin could either rejoin Umno alone or bring other Bersatu MPs and Umno would still accept them
This suggestion came amid grumblings within Umno at having to accommodate Bersatu
Muhyiddin had been working to formalise PN so that its component parties could contest under a common platform in the next general election
However, some within Umno believe that the Umno-PAS alliance is strong enough to win in the next general election without having to make concessions to Bersatu
All three parties rely on a Malay voter base and have extensive overlapping claims over electoral constituencies that they want to contest in
In a related development, Bersatu Youth exco member Muzzammil Ismail (photo) said Nazri's proposal was uncalled for and would only lead to unhealthy speculations
"Bersatu and Umno's struggles are based on different ethos even though they have Malays and bumiputera as the core
"There is no need to raise the issue of Bersatu rejoining Umno," he said in a statement
Muzzammil maintained that Bersatu and Umno can be united within Perikatan Nasional even though they are different political parties
"Enough with the statements that could lead to misunderstandings among members of both parties. Work on creating harmony, not generate perceptions," he said. - Mkini

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