Umno welcomes PAS’s willingness to use BN logo in Melaka polls

Umno has welcomed PAS’s willingness to contest the Melaka state election under the Barisan Nasional (BN) logo.

Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin was responding to a proposal by the Islamic party’s deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two parties.

Khaled said any party wishing to contest under the BN logo would have to undergo a screening process and obtain the coalition’s approval, Utusan Malaysia reported.

“If any party is willing to contest under the BN logo, we certainly welcome it. But it must be subject to the necessary considerations and decisions,” he said.

However, Khaled did not confirm if the same openness would be extended to other Perikatan Nasional (PN) component parties, such as Wawasan.

“Our ‘house’ is open to those we are comfortable with. It’s not open to everyone,” he said.

Yesterday, Tuan Ibrahim said negotiations with Umno over seat allocations for the Melaka election had reached about 90% completion.

He said PAS had also indicated its willingness to use the BN logo in the election if doing so could help the two sides reach a final agreement on their cooperation.

The Registrar of Societies (RoS) suspended PN’s activities effective Sept 23 following a notice issued to the coalition seeking an explanation regarding a complaint lodged by Bersatu. This means that PN component parties cannot contest under the coalition’s banner until the matter is settled.

Besides PAS and Wawasan, PN also comprises Bersatu, Pejuang, MIPP and Gerakan.