Saifuddin slams opposition for public outcry over allocation MOU instead of negotiating

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan (PH) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has criticised the Perikatan Nasional (PN) leadership for choosing to air their grouses publicly instead of negotiating over the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on allocations for the opposition.

Expressing his disappointment, Saifuddin, who is also the Home Minister, compared the current process with the MoU on Transformation and Political Stability under the administration of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as Prime Minister in September 2021, which led to an agreement between the government and the opposition.

"First, the government presented a draft. PH discussed it in the PH Presidential Council, then provided feedback. The government reviewed PH's feedback, and we negotiated to reach a common understanding. The process followed proper order. Negotiations took place over several rounds until both parties agreed on the content of the MoU.

"We signed the agreement in a ceremony at Parliament attended by Ismail Sabri and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the opposition leader at the time.

"This time? As soon as the draft was received, there was already public noise. As Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said, if you're more interested in talking to the media, then there's no point in negotiating!" he said in a Facebook post today.

Saifuddin said he, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, DAP national deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo and the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, who was Amanah deputy president, represented PH in the negotiation process then.

The government, he said, was represented by Sarawak Governor Tun Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who was then Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law), Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, and PN chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

PN had previously claimed that the MoU draft concerning opposition allocations was prepared solely by the government without any consultation.

-- BERNAMA

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