AN UMNO leader has poured scorn on the opposition’s main campaign message for the forthcoming Kemaman by-election that a win for Perikatan Nasional (PN) was another step towards ousting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.

According to UMNO secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, the opposition’s campaign to oust Anwar was nothing but a mere pipe dream as the unity government currently has the support from 153 MPs.

“This is either a delusion or a dream. Every time [PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang] talks [about defections], someone [from PN] ‘hops’ over [to back the prime minister],” Asyraf said at a ceramah in Kemaman, Terengganu last night (Nov 29).

“Today, the unity government has the support of 153 MPs while PN currently has 69. So how are they going to form the government? They need 112 but they only have 69 now. How are they going to find more [representatives to support them]?”

Asyraf further brushed off Hadi’s earlier statement during the Kemaman by-election campaign last week that PN is in the midst of attempting to lure UMNO representatives to jump ship and be part of the opposition coalition in its bid to form the government.

“All 30 Barisan Nasional (BN) and UMNO MPs have signed an agreement before becoming candidates in the 15th general election (GE15), if they violate or disobey the party’s order then they will voluntarily relinquish their party positions and the seat will be vacated, paving the way for a by-election,” he stated.

“All the BN MPs have agreed in the agreement that if they disobey the party then they will have to pay a RM100 mil bond.

“This is similar to the agreement between PKR and Zuraida (Kamaruddin) where the court has ordered her to pay (the RM10 mil she signed) so the deal is valid….BN also has a similar agreement with all its MPs. With these two [contractual stipulations] I am confident that no BN MP will defect.”

The Kemaman by-election on Dec 2 is a straight fight between Terengganu PAS chief Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar and BN’s Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor. - Nov 30, 2023 

https://focusmalaysia.my/pipe-dream-every-time-hadi-talks-about-defections-a-pn-mp-backs-anwar/