SHAH ALAM - Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the party should not pressure Prime Minister Ismail Sabri to dissolve the Parliament since it is not the right time to do so and the people should be their priority, opposition says.
PKR Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said the motive behind why they wanted to put pressure on the Prime Minister (PM) seemed selfish and they needed to consider the people’s perspective regarding the matter.
"I think it is very important to try and understand the motive and right now it seems very selfish.
"For the public, it seems like after what happened to Datuk Seri Najib Razak where they discovered that the PM cannot interfere in the court process, they are doing this because they have started to realise things are not looking good for them.
"The public is aware that this is the situation happening right now,” he told Sinar Daily.
He further said that there was no necessity to have the general election now since the government and political parties should give time for the people to recover after the pandemic.
He said many people were slowly getting back on their feet after many lost their jobs, houses as well as family members, hence they need time to rebuild their lives before the election was held.
"Right now, having the election serves no other purpose than the narrow interest of certain political leaders which to me, is very selfish,” he said.
Meanwhile, DAP Kuching MP Kelvin Yii said the actions of certain Umno leaders showed that they did not have the interest of the country at heart, instead they only cared about their self-interest and their political party.
He added that this was not the time for the 15th General Election (GE15), but instead the time for all leaders to focus on the economic recovery of the country.
"Rather than the time to have an election, I think this is the time for all leaders to come together to prepare the country to face possible economic recession and to rebuild the country after the devastation of covid-19.
"All this political talk insecurity or pressuring the PM does not help ordinary Malaysians and it does not even help with the investors’ confidence because they saw so much instability, insecurity and uncertainty,” he said.
He also said that there was a need for a fixed term amendment so that the decision to call the election was not decided by political consideration was fixed for four or five years.
He added that this would give way for the government of the day to plan properly and put the people first rather than their political gains.
Earlier, news portal The Vibes reported that Umno had allegedly issued what appeared to be an ultimatum to the Prime Minister, where he should abide by their four demands or risk losing his position as vice-president of the party.