KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed today said that party elections have no bearing on voter support during an election.
The former Pulai MP said that voters do not pay much heed to internal party politics when voting as evident from previous elections, and this was not just limited to Umno.
“In 2018, all the top leadership positions in Umno, including the presidency, were contested. Yet in the 15th general election, Umno lost badly anyway. This is even after GE14, when Umno started democracy in the party. Why didn’t the people support Umno then?” he asked in a posting on his Facebook page.
He pointed out that parties like PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, who did not see the presidency contested, still had voters support in GE15.
“Do the people care? In the last PKR elections, there were all kinds of chaos during their elections, but did the people make a fuss? In DAP, there were also tussles but did the Chinese voters change?
“Internal tussles actually don’t influence public support towards any parties because the people know that it's just internal and a domestic problem. They don’t want to give themselves a headache thinking about other people’s problems.
“So the reality is that the people don’t care what happens within Umno because they are not members, and cannot vote for the party’s leaders. So no need to use that excuse just to wet the threads,” he said.
He was referring to Johor Umno representative Datuk Pandak Ahmad, who among others was questioning why the top two posts in Umno were not contested.
“To others who are questioning the decision of the delegates for supporting the decision for the top two posts to go uncontested, are u saying that those in attendance are not smart?” he asked.
He also took issue with Johor BN chairman Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad for not bringing up the subject in a state meeting and objecting to it only after the general assembly.
“He has been acting like a zipped mouth all this while without issuing any statement about the election until after the assembly.
“As far as I know, he has never called for a meeting to discuss the state Umno’s statement on the matter. Why decide to speak about it without talking to the state first? Is that considered democracy,” he asked.
Last Saturday, the Johor Umno delegation was reported to have been at odds over the issue of not having its top two posts contested.
Hasni was reported to have said that it was unconstitutional.
