PETALING JAYA: Umno and Barisan Nasional will never cooperate with traitors and liars in the 15th General Election, says Isham Jalil.

The Umno supreme council member said that while there are many parties wanting to cooperate with Barisan now, not all can be trusted.

Isham said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Aug 9) that some of those include Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin's Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and even DAP.

"DAP is part of the group that lies to the public and Malaysians still remember that DAP and Pakatan Harapan lied in their manifesto and destroyed the economy," said Isham.

"Should Umno accept them, a group of Malay voters now supporting Umno might be discouraged and support other parties such as Gabungan Tanah Air (GTA) led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Malay votes will be split,” he added.

Isham then trained his guns at Zuraida, as the Ampang MP was quoted as saying that PBM had submitted its official application to join Barisan three weeks ago.

"Zuraida is now desperate for a seat. If she wants to support Barisan, we will welcome it. But we will not give our seats to her. That is the stand of the grassroots and myself," said Isham.

Zuraida, who was a former PKR vice president, had resigned from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in May to join PBM.

Zuraida was part of the 10 MPs led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali in quitting PKR, triggering the collapse of the Pakatan administration after just 22 months in power in a week-long political impasse in March 2020 known as the "Sheraton Move".

Aside from Zuraida's application to join Barisan, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said on Sunday (Aug 7) that his party will not rule out a collaboration with Umno, as anything was possible in politics.

Loke did not rule out the need for compromise if no party had a clear majority after the next general election.

On Thursday, Dr Mahathir, who is Pejuang chairman and head of Gerakan Tanah Air, announced the new political movement, which will have an exclusively Malay membership, to take on Umno in GE15.

The coalition plans to field candidates in 120 seats, with its main focus on Malay-majority seats in the peninsula.

The current parliamentary term is set to expire next July.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/08/09/isham-jalil-umno-bn-will-never-team-up-with-039liars039-and-039traitors039