UMNO sedia kerjasama dengan parti lain – Zahid

UMNO tidak menolak kemungkinan bekerjasama dengan parti lain pada pilihanraya negeri Sabah, kata presidennya Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid yang juga pengerusi Barisan Nasional berkata UMNO akan bertanding menggunakan lambang BN.

Ditanya sama ada BN akan bertanding solo, beliau berkata rundingan dengan parti lain sedang berlangsung.

“Kita dah jumpa banyak parti. Pintu kerjasama tidak terbuka dan tertutup sepenuhnya. Dalam erti kata lain, masih ada ruang untuk berunding,” katanya di Kota Kinabalu semalam.

“Kita harap ada keputusan positif. Tunggu dan tengok keadaan,” katanya.

Mengenai agihan kerusi, beliau berkata belum ada rundingan mengenainya, terutama bagi mengelakkan pertandingan pelbagai penjuru.

Beliau juga berkata, keanggotaan Ahli Parlimen Kalabakan, Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy dalam UMNO kini digantung.

Sementara itu, ketua UMNO Sabah Bung Moktar Radin berkata pihaknya sedia bekerjasama dengan Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) pada PRN nanti jika ia benar-benar ikhlas dan jujur.

Umno open to cooperating with others, says Zahid

UMNO is not ruling out the possibility of collaborating with other political coalitions in the upcoming Sabah state election, said its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said Umno would contest under the BN banner and the balance scale logo.

When asked whether the party would go solo, he explained that discussions with various parties were ongoing.

“We’ve been meeting with many parties. There are no doors that are fully open, nor fully closed. In other words, space for negotiations and visits remains active,” he told reporters after launching the 2025 Premier Women Empowerment Programme by MARA at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) on Tuesday.

“We’re hoping for a positive outcome. Naturally, it’s not possible to go into detail right now since the state assembly has not yet been dissolved. But when the time comes, we may reach a conclusion to the meetings and negotiations,” he said.

Touching on the issue of seat distribution, Zahid said discussions had not yet reached that stage, nor had they addressed the matter of avoiding multi-cornered contests.

“The most important thing is to maintain an open attitude. Of course, we aim to find more allies than enemies,” he said, joking that BN-Umno would ideally like to contest and win every seat.

On another matter, he confirmed that Kalabakan Member of Parliament Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy’s Umno membership has been suspended.

Earlier in his speech, Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Rural and Regional Development Minister, stressed the importance of engaging and supporting the younger generation.

Meanwhile, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin said the party is open to working with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) in the upcoming state election, but only if the ruling coalition is sincere in its approach to seat negotiations.

Claiming GRS tended to change its stance once an agreement had been reached, Bung said: “We are still open to working with any local party, but they must be sincere. We don’t want insincerity.

“What I mean by insincerity is that we agree on something today, then tomorrow they change their stand or change their decision on seats or put their candidates as independents for seats which we are contesting,” Bung.

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