JOHOR BARU: Umno should not be forced to accept anyone as its political partner or easily give away seats in the 15th General Election (GE15), says Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

The party vice-president said that it is not Umno's mission to throw a lifeline to any party to win with Umno's help.

"PAS should also not force Umno to accept Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or give away seats to the party.

"Umno's priority is to win double through its collaboration with PAS.

"Anything else, let Umno decide on its own direction," he said when commenting on a recent statement from a PAS leader that the party will not be with Umno without Bersatu being involved.

Khaled said he felt that this was the leader's own views and not the party stand.

"This statement comes from a person who wants to save Bersatu and cause divisions in Muafakat Nasional," he said.

He added that Umno and PAS must realise that the priority is to negotiate seats in GE15 as members of Muafakat.

He also said PAS should realise that some of Umno's seats would clash with Bersatu.

"As Umno is not part of Perikatan Nasional, any seat negotiations with Bersatu will be done with Perikatan through Barisan Nasional," he stressed.

Khaled added that Umno and PAS have a “convincing synergy”, which should be optimised now.

"Besides PAS, our collaboration with other parties is based on the formula that the party's ability to give Umno a strategic advantage to win," he added.

Khaled reiterated that since Muafakat was established, cooperation between both Umno and PAS has become stronger.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/11/23/umno-will-not-just-give-away-seats-to-bersatu-says-party-vp