SHAH ALAM - Umno veteran Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz has called out the Umno "court cluster" leaders for their demands to have hold the 15th General Election (GE15) now, stating that they were being selfish and acting based on their personal interest.
He said "they" only want Barisan Nasional (BN) to gain back control by winning the polls and later interfere in the court cases in hopes of setting them free of their charges.
"I don't know what's their plans but they are playing games for their own personal interest.
"There are two groups who are pushing the prime ministers for elections; one are those charged in court while the other are those who lost in the GE14 and can't wait to come back into power thinking that we are already strong.
"They are putting the party at risk as the rakyat can smell what's brewing, they will punish us.
"The rakyat should never be underestimated," he told Sinar Daily.
The Padang Rengas MP said they needed to look at the data and numbers from the Johor and Melaka state elections as Umno or BN was "not home and dry yet".
He said if you compare the numbers between all parties and coalitions, the results were neck-to-neck.
"We didn't even reach the 50 per cent marker if you want to talk about going at it alone, and this is on top of low voter turnout," he said, adding that GE would be a totally different ballgame.
Nazri said what was strange about this whole situation was the fact that nobody else besides Umno themselves were pushing the government, namely Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, for the dissolution of the government.
He said Pakatan Harapan and other opposition parties were not pushing for a snap polls.
"Nobody is pushing us and we have until September next year to do it. There is still lots of time, and for me, now is not the right time.
"There is no necessity to hold one now and it will cost the country billions.
"We do not need to spend that money on elections when it can be used to help the people, think of the Malaysians in need," he said.
Nazri said the country was facing inflation at the moment and that it pure madness if were to ignore it as prices of food and goods were soaring.
He said the people will punish Umno and BN for being out of touch with what's truly happening on the ground.
Recently, Ismail Sabri told Nikkei Asia in an interview that the rising costs in food and other living expenses were among the reasons to push back the elections, which only need to be called by September next year.
This led into a spat between DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke and the prime minister, where Loke labelled Ismail Sabri as a flip-flop for the latter's inconsistent statements where days later at the BN Convention, he said there will be no delaying GE15 as it would be called immediately once the coalition was ready.
In regards to this altercation, Nazri stood his ground stating that regardless who the prime minister was, no sane leader would call for polls in such economic circumstances.
"At the moment, we are in power and empowered to resolve the problems of the rakyat including bringing down inflation.
"Why do we want to remove ourselves from power now? We want to avoid responsibility?"
"We should to take all the actions needed to bring down inflation and not throw the towel," he said.
Nazri also said Covid-19 was still not over as Malaysia was still in its transition period, highlighting reports that even Singapore was expecting another wave in August.
He urged his comrades to focus on the health and welfare of the people first instead of their own position and rank.