FORMER Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed stepped forward to defend the alliance between UMNO and Pakatan Harapan, saying that UMNO has made the right decision to work with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition to establish a unity government.

The Johor UMNO deputy chief said this is evident in how both PKR and DAP are able to hold negotiations and tolerate each other in the process of forming the government and the Cabinet.

“DAP did not demand for a quota in Anwar’s Cabinet despite having the most representatives in the coalition and had even left it to Anwar to form a solid line-up of ministers and deputy ministers,” he said in a Facebook post today.

“The coalition did not even side-line UMNO in the process of appointing the Cabinet ministers, which had led to UMNO having the same number of representatives in the unity government as PKR and DAP.

“In fact, Anwar’s Cabinet even maintained the tradition of a Malay-majority Cabinet as practiced by [the Barisan Nasional coalition] for the past 60 years.”

This is amid news reports that MIC secretary-general RT Rajasekaran who said that the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by five coalition leaders last Friday (Dec 16) “lacked transparency” and “is not legally binding”.

In calling the MOA a “disgrace to the democratically-elected Parliament”, Rajasekaran - who is also a member of the BN supreme council - said the MOA should be scrapped.

In a statement today he warned that if the MOA were to be implemented, it will make the country a “disgrace in the eyes of the world”.

On Friday (Dec 16) leaders of four political coalitions had signed the MOA, pledging their support to the unity government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The agreement was signed by coalition leaders: Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Anwar, BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

On this matter, Nur Jazlan further praised the political cooperation especially between UMNO, PKR and DAP as all three parties have their own strengths taking into account their respective voter bases.

“When it comes to the matter of political survival, we can see how the cooperation between UMNO and PH can form a strong alliance,” he explained.

“UMNO is strong in Malay-majority areas, PKR is stable in mixed seats while DAP is solid in terms of support from Chinese voters.

“PH can rely on the influence of UMNO to get Malay votes especially in rural areas, while PKR can win the hearts of some urban Malay voters and mixed Chinese and Indian voters.

“Meanwhile, DAP will certainly become a magnet for Chinese voters to support the cooperation between UMNO and PH.” - Dec 19, 2022 

https://focusmalaysia.my/umno-made-the-right-decision-nur-jazlan-says-on-partys-cooperation-with-ph/