KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin today said that the vetting process for Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates will be thorough to ensure that only those with unquestionable integrity will be fielded in GE15.

In an apparent jab at Barisan Nasional’s (BN) so-called "court cluster", he said that as an example, those facing legal action in court will not be considered as candidates for his party, in response to a question from a reporter at the third National Forensic Science Symposium for Law Enforcement held at the Royal Malaysia Police College in Cheras.

"We will not only check whether candidates are involved in court cases or criminal activities, but we will also check their background with the Inland Revenue Board and other such agencies to ensure that our candidates are truly ‘clean’,” he said.

"It starts with being a candidate up until they are chosen by the people. But the candidate must be someone ‘clean’ and responsible for the people, and not for individuals and certain groups,” he added.

The "court cluster" is a colloquial term used by Umno’s political rivals to refer to the coalition’s leaders who are and were facing charges in court, including party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Hamzah also said that voters will decide for themselves whether Umno’s vetting process is real or "a drama that they are watching on television”.

PN will also observe other parties to see if they will follow along in subjecting their candidates to an extensive vetting process, he added.

Besides that, he said that it was detrimental to the country’s stability to be under the control of a single party as it would be hard for other parties that are partners in the government to make decisions.

"Stability is when you have a government that is ‘clean’, whose members are not involved in court cases, whose integrity cannot be questioned, and who are not involved in crimes which can become a big matter locally or internationally,” he said, adding that politicians are representatives of their country.

However, he was elusive when questioned on when PN will produce its list of candidates for GE15.

"When do you want it? I mean, it’s your suggestion. If you’re supporting me, then you’ll let me know,” he joked, adding that he will ask for a sign from God for the most opportune time that his coalition could announce its candidates.

Yesterday, the New Straits Times reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also the vice-president of Umno, as saying that all candidates for GE15 from his party will undergo an extensive vetting process which includes being vetted by the Religious Affairs Department, the Malaysian police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Insolvency Department.

He reportedly said that this is to ensure that candidates do not have any underlying issues that could affect the nomination.