KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA— Barisan Nasional’s supreme council is holding a meeting with its 30 MPs today (22 Nov) at 11 am, to continue its discussion and finalize its decision on which coalition it would support to form the next federal government, a few hours before the deadline given by the Malaysia King.
Following yesterday’s meeting with Pakatan Harapan leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, BN held its Supreme Council meeting but failed to reach any official conclusion. The discussion among BN top leaders and MPs continues today at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL).
The King had given his consent to extend the deadline for coalitions to submit their coalition numbers and candidates for the prime minister’s post to 2 pm today.
On 20 November, Malaysia Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said none of the coalition had been able to obtain a simple majority after they failed to win 50 per cent out of 222 parliamentary seats in Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15).
The PH coalition led by Anwar won 82 seats in GE15, while the PN coalition gained a total of 73 seats.
BN, with its 30 seats, will be able to assist PH in gaining a simple majority to form the next government.
While PN had proposed to Sabah and Sarawak coalition to form a simple majority government, without PH.
According to Malaysia media, some BN top leaders oppose forming a new government with PH, for example, Nina Sabrina Ismail Sabri, daughter of Malaysia 9th PM, shared an alleged WhatsApp conversation of Ismail Sabri on an Instagram story, claiming that his father is willing to be sacked from UMNO instead of working with PH.
“I am ready to be fired….I will not work with PH,” read the message shared by Nina yesterday with the caption “Biar tak berkuasa, jgn tak berprisip” (Better to be powerless than to be without principle).
While another UMNO deputy chief, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan or better known as Tok Mat, suggested that BN should accept the Malaysia voters’ decision, and let PH and Perikatan National (PN) form the next government as these two coalitions had the most seats.
He said BN should instead focus on acting as a “check and balance” for the new government.
However, he holds that BN is still willing to contribute in “open and sincere” discussions if any assistance is required from either coalition during the current post-election transition period.
