PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan must forge an alliance in Negeri Sembilan as it heads for a state election in several months’ time, says Umno Supreme Council member Jalaluddin Alias.
The Jelebu MP said BN and PH must work together at the state level since they were already allies in Putrajaya.
“This is to make it easier (for the coalitions) to govern and manage (the country and states) for the sake of the people’s welfare,” Jalaluddin told FMT.
Yesterday, Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi revealed that Jalaluddin was among the 10 BN MPs who signed statutory declarations in support of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister after the recent general election.
Negeri Sembilan PH chairman Aminuddin Harun has said the coalition is willing to work with BN in the state election.
However, he said no talks have been held yet with his BN counterpart, Mohamad Hasan, who is also BN’s deputy chairman.
Following the formation of the federal unity government, BN withdrew its candidate for the Padang Serai parliamentary election, while PH did the same in the contest for the Tioman state seat.
While BN managed to retain the Tioman seat, PH lost heavily to Perikatan Nasional in Padang Serai.
Despite BN’s strong footing in Negeri Sembilan, winning the majority of parliamentary seats in GE15, political analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said it still needed to work with PH for the state election.
He said this was to ensure the government parties could stem the wave of support PN had garnered recently, particularly in Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis and Kedah.
In GE15, BN failed to win a single seat in Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Melaka. This is despite BN leading the Melaka state government since 2021.
Source: FMT