Don’t ask BN to leave, decide its fate, says Gulam

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan (PH) should decide whether it wants Barisan Nasional (BN) out of the unity government instead of asking BN to quit, says an UMNO division leader.

UMNO Batu chief Datuk Gulam Muszaffar Gulam Mustakim said calls by PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim for BN ministers and deputy ministers to resign were misplaced as the challenge had come from UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid had challenged PH to either dissolve Parliament early or table a no-confidence motion to remove BN from the unity government.

Gulam said Hassan and other PH voices should respond directly to Zahid’s challenge instead of shifting the responsibility to BN to leave the government.

He likened the unity government to a marriage, with PH as the “husband” who entered into a political union with BN after the 15th general election, alongside GPS, GRS and other parties.

“BN is the oldest wife, and now that wife is being blamed for causing problems and is even being asked to leave. If the husband wants a divorce, then divorce her. Don’t behave cowardly when the power to make that decision lies with the husband,” he said in a statement today.

Gulam also questioned Hassan’s consistency, recalling that the MP had previously called for the resignation of the finance minister from his own party over the nearly RM200 million loss involving the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP).

“Did the finance minister resign? No. He simply ignored the call. Hassan has only one vote and his opposition in Parliament does not affect the prime minister,” he said.

Gulam said the situation was different this time as BN had 30 MPs as well as several ministers and deputy ministers, warning that its departure could have a significant impact on the unity government.

He said PH should therefore stop asking BN to leave if it was confident the government could continue without the coalition.

“If the marriage is already broken and no longer harmonious, divorce is the easiest solution. But don’t wait until the husband dies without pronouncing the divorce, leaving all four political wives as political widows,” he said.