KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — The Umno-PAS alliance was successful in helping the Barisan Nasional (BN) take back the Selangor state seat of Semenyih in yesterday’s by-election, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad conceded today.
However, the prime minister who also heads the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition was sceptical that the Umno-PAS combination will work in a general election, Malaysiakini reported today.
“They can work together for by-elections because a win or a loss is not important.
“But for the general election, they cannot work together. If they do, PAS will be left with nothing,” he was quoted telling reporters after opening the 2019 National Landscape Day in Putrajaya.
The Semenyih state seat had been BN’s until the May 9 general election last year, when it was won by Bakhtiar Mohd Nor from PH component Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Dr Mahathir’s party.
Zakaria Hanafi reclaimed the seat for BN in yesterday’s by-election triggered by Bakhtiar’sdeath from a heart attack on January 11, defeating the latter’s son-in-law Muhammad Aiman Zainali who was fielded by PH, Parti Sosialis Malaysia candidate Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul and independent Kuan Chee Heng.
Dr Mahathir was also reported saying racial and religious sensitivities were played up during campaigning in Semenyih, which only triggered public anger.
He said such tensions within multicultural Malaysia was not good for the country and urged the provocateurs to stop.
The prime minister disclosed that the government had to pay a hefty interest for a loan taken by the previous Barisan Nasional administration led by Datuk Seri Najib Razak to build the 688km East Coast Railway Line, which is currently stalled pending renegotiations with China.
“Recently, we paid RM200 million interest because Najib had incurred a RM55 billion loan for the East Coast Railway project, which could actually be done at a much lower cost,” he was quoted saying.
He indicated that such payments to cover the country’s debts and interests on loans was delaying his government’s ability to fulfil its GE14 promises, when asked if unfulfilled pledges contributed to PH’s Semenyih loss.
“We want to fulfil the promises, but it couldn't be done overnight. It takes a long time. Now our debt is at RM1 trillion. The money that we have should be spent on the people but now we have to use it to pay interest,” he was quoted saying.
