HULU KELANG, July 21 — Ahead of the state election, Selangor Umno chief Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin today claimed that a vote for Perikatan Nasional (PN) is a vote to ban Umno.
“A vote for PN, as I say in every ‘ceramah’, is also support for Umno to be banned by PN,” he told reporters at a press conference after an event in Taman Keramat here.
The Umno candidate for the Setia Gombak seat in the Selangor legislative assembly also hit back against former Selangor Umno chief Tan Sri Noh Omar’s claims that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had no plans to ban the party.
Megat Zulkarnain said that Noh had confessed that there were efforts to dissolve Umno, and asked what the difference between banning and dissolving the party was.
He added that PN’s strategy is to use former party members against Umno to steal and confuse its supporters.
Also at the same event was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who called on Selangor voters to back candidates from his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state election
“We want Selangor to give the strength of its support to PH and BN in this election,” he said in a speech.
The PH chairman also attributed the formation of the unity government to Umno’s support.
“Without Umno’s support, we would not have been able to form the government,” Anwar said.
He added that Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had been continuously attacked for throwing his party's support behind PH.
Ahmad Zahid’s support strengthened the unity government and helped it to defeat PN, Anwar added.
PH and its former rival BN came together to form the unity federal government after the first hung parliament result in the 15th general elections last November.
State elections for Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu is on August 12.
The 14th Selangor state assembly with its 56 seats was officially dissolved on June 23 with the consent of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
