Malaysia: Umno Supreme Council to meet on BN’s future

• The Umno Supreme Council will meet on 7 Mar 19 to deliberate the future of Barisan Nasional after MCA and MIC’s repeated calls for the dissolution of the former ruling coalition.
• Umno Supreme Council member Armand Azha Abu Hanifah urged all parties to be patient while the party’s leadership studies the recent joint-statement by MCA and MIC threatening to leave BN.
• Meanwhile during a press conference at the Putra World Trade Centre on 6 Mar 19, BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz said that he will not be attending the meeting as he did not want to be a stumbling block.
• In the same press conference, Nazri apologised to the Islamist party supporters for his fervent objection to their cooperation in the past.
• After which, he also announced that the union of BN’s lynchpin party and the Islamist party had ended the spirit of multiculturalism.
• However, Nazri said that he hoped the cooperation would be expanded to BN and PAS and not limited to between Umno and PAS, especially during elections.
• “We are not abandoning Chinese support as we will need everyone’s support in politics. I also hope that BN will not be disbanded, and PAS and BN will be able to work together,” he said.
• Following Nazri’s comments about the coalition being dead, MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker said that Nazri is not the party and does not speak for everyone in the party.
• Ti also said Nazri should humble himself and stop “muddying the water” with his racist comments.
• Ti said that the multicultural spirit of BN has lasted and will not be destroyed because of his words.
• When asked what is next for MCA and MIC, Ti said he would leave it to the conventional wisdom of the coalition to decide when they meet during the Supreme Council meeting.

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