KUALA LUMPUR: Shahril Hamdan, who resigned as Umno information chief today, has urged Barisan Nasional (BN) to focus on rebuilding the coalition.
This approach was better instead of joining either Perikatan Nasional (PN) or Pakatan Harapan (PH) in forming the next federal government.
He said it would be better for BN to remain on the opposition bench, as there is no moral standing for it to be part of the government.
"This time, there is no pandemic or internal division of the party that won the election, demanding that we be the 'saviors' of any situation. No arguments or justifications like in March 2020.
"Being part of any government will be 'points' for five years that we cannot resist. It will (also) become a reason to bury BN deeper in GE16," he said in a statement today.
Shahril said supporting either coalition is only technically meant to allow a prime minister to be elected by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and also for the government of the day to get enough votes in Parliament to pass bills and the budgets.
He said BN should also shift towards a reform agenda and not be distracted by being part of the government.
He added that the previous government was not stable because of the formation of a coalition government and it would be awkward to be with opposing parties.
"They might not feel that way because if we join them, they will form (the government) and we would only be a complement.
"We do it our way. We have class. They have won, we have lost. We should focus on rebuilding our party," he said.
Earlier today, Gabungan Party Sarawak had said it would jin BN, PN and Gabungan Rakyat sabah to form the federal government.
However, BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi later dismissed the report, saying he had not spoken to either GPS or PN on any sort of collaboration.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, also claimed to have a simple majority but did not reveal the number nor the parties in question which had agreed to support the coalition.