He said the question of who was leading the coalition’s Sabah state election machinery was not important because the main goal was to win.

“Don’t split up. If it (the party) splits, it’s a recipe for losing. If we have yet to enter the ring and we already lost, it won’t do us any good,” Mohamad, who is also known as Tok Mat, told reporters here, today.

He was commenting on the situation in Sabah where several Umno leaders are not happy with the appointment of Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Bung Moktar Radin to lead the BN machinery because he has a pending court case.

On Wednesday, BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it was reasonable for Bung to lead the party machinery to face the state polls.

The Election Commission (EC) has set Sept 26 for the state election, with nomination day on Sept 12 and early voting on Sept 22.

Meanwhile, commenting on the report that PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed that PAS was a part of the pro tem committee with PPBM to officially register Perikatan Nasional (PN) as a coalition, Mohamad said Umno respected the stand made by PAS.

“PAS joins the PN, there is no issue because the Muafakat Nasional (MN) is non-binding. PAS can join PN because MN is not a registered body, it has not been registered yet because what we have is a charter of cooperation.

“Umno has made a stand that we don’t join PN, and PAS respects our stand, and PAS says it wants to join PN, we also respect PAS’ stand,” he said.

Earlier, Mohamad and the BN candidate for the Slim state by-election Mohd Zaidi Aziz spent time with local residents at the food court in the town of Slim River here.