Nazri: We’re not worried about what Dr M said

Umno leaders say they are not troubled by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement that PAS will not support it in the Semenyih by-election.

“We understand the situation for PAS and what is important for us is what is happening on the ground.

“There is good collaboration between Umno and PAS on the ground and that is what matters most,” said Umno’s Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

He said a PAS leader explained to him that the meeting between Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was mostly for the east coast state governments to request financial support from the federal government.

“So, we are not feeling jittery or threatened by what Dr Mahathir said,” added Nazri, who is Barisan Nasional’s secretary-general.

He said top PAS leaders such as deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, vice-president Datuk Iskandar Samad and secretarygeneral Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan were present yesterday with the Umno candidate at the nomination centre for the Semenyih by-election.

Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said he felt Dr Mahathir was not telling the truth when he said Abdul Hadi had pledged to him not to support Umno in the Semenyih polls.

“I prefer to believe the written statement from PAS’ top leaders to its members to support Barisan in the Semenyih by-election than the statement by Dr Mahathir,” he said, adding that there was a letter dated Feb 14, purportedly from Selangor PAS, directing its members to give full support to the Barisan candidate.

“The PM had before this also alleged that Umno leaders met him to discuss the dissolution of the party. His own Cabinet has a few ministers who lied about their academic qualifications as exposed by netizens recently,” said Asyraf.