Azmin Ali claims eight Umno members now part of Perikatan
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Selangor Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has claimed that eight former Umno members have joined his coalition.
According to Malay daily Sinar Harian, the PN information chief refused to name them citing safety reasons.
“The current government is a threatening one. If it finds out, it will threaten and pressure. That is not a good thing.
“So you need to be patient because it will be announced soon, maybe after Hari Raya Aidiladha,” he told reporters at PN’s Selangor open house event in Shah Alam yesterday.
He reportedly added that Malaysians, particularly those in Selangor, have many festivities this year, which will be extended until the upcoming state elections.
“Hari Raya is long this year. Today Syawal has ended and we are now entering 1 Zulkaedah but for Selangor ‘raya’ has been extended to the state elections,” he was quoted as saying.
National news agency Bernama reported him as saying at the same event yesterday that he may not contest in the state elections.
Azmin said it was time to give way to young leaders in PN given that he had already served as an elected representative for seven terms.
In February, he announced his hiatus from politics, saying that he needed to return to the "drawing board” to decide his next move.
Azmin had been a central figure in Malaysian politics over the past three years after he defected from PKR with a faction of loyalists as part of the so-called "Sheraton Move” in 2020 that brought down the Pakatan Harapan government at the time.
In GE15 last year, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim fielded Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari against Azmin in Gombak, in what had then been seen as a test of Amirudin’s loyalty.
Amirudin won the contest by a margin of nearly 13,000 votes, leaving Azmin without an elected seat for the first time since 2008.
