I never said Umno could stand alone, says Negri MB

Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan seen here at his Haro Raya Aidilfitri open house last month. He says his words during the recent Paroi Umno meeting was misunderstood. – The Malaysian Insider pic, August 3, 2015.Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan today denied saying that Umno could stand alone and did not need the Barisan Nasional component parties to win the next general election.

"I never said we do not need them, that does not make sense," he told reporters, adding that his words might have been misinterpreted.

"I hope the component parties in the state know what I said and not respond to it emotionally," he said.

Mohamad said that the Negri Sembilan dialect may have been the reason why he was misquoted.

"The media may have not understood the Negri dialect, 'mampuih' means gone not 'mampus' which means die," he said.

It was recently reported that Mohamad had criticised BN component parties in the state for being ineffective and suggested to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that there was no necessity to accommodate and provide seats for the component parties in the state.

"We (Umno) work hard but they hardly deliver results. They are unable to win anything. Whatever they win, they win Malay majority areas with our support," he had said during Seremban Umno's AGM in Paroi on August 1.

"There's no need to give them seats, they want to become ministers, just give them senatorship so they can become senators," he added.

Mohamad today also extended his apology to those who had misunderstood his message in the speech at the Umno meet recently.

“If that was what the listeners thought I said, then I apologise,” he said, adding that it was the first time he had made a public apology for the sake of BN.

“I am not apologising because I made a mistake, as I did not say it, but this is to clear the situation,” he said.

Mohamad said BN component parties and those in the state would know him better than to make such a statement.

“The state management had never sidelined any races, we are very fair,” he said.

When asked why he and the state appeared to have caught the attention of many lately, including the social media, Mohamad said he was unsure.

“I am not sure why I am in the limelight recently,” he replied.

He said the important thing now was that all BN component parties must work hard to win the next general election.

Mohamad said he had suggested to Najib to re-examine the existing formulas being used to win the general election.

“We are still stuck with the same formulas, we must review our strategies,” he said.

One of the consideration, he said was that Malay areas in the state be given to Umno to increase the chances of winning.

“I also suggested that when we take seats from the component parties, we give them senatorship as an exchange,”

“There was no ill-intention, just suggestions to strengthen the party.” he added.

- TMI