“The baton is in their hands, so it depends on whether they want to form a unity government here,” he told FMT when asked if Amanah will request for a unity government in Johor if BN wins Mahkota.

“It’s better to be together than separated. We have shown good cooperation here in Mahkota,” he said.

The Johor government was formed by BN, which has 39 seats in the state assembly, with the support of Pakatan Harapan’s 12 seats.

However, the two coalitions have not formed an alliance, unlike at the federal government level.

Aminolhuda’s comments also come on the back of a similar challenge by Perikatan Nasional’s director for the Mahkota by-election, Azmin Ali, for Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi to form a unity government in the state if BN wins Mahkota.

However, Onn Hafiz, who is also the Johor BN chairman, said outsiders like Azmin do not have the right to comment on the state’s governance as they do not have a true understanding of the issue.

The Johor Umno chief said Azmin, who is the Selangor PN chief, was being irresponsible in making such divisive statements.

“What do outsiders like Azmin know about Johor? He is just here to help out in the by-election campaign,” Onn Hafiz was quoted as saying.

Aminolhuda also denied that Amanah is boycotting the by-election.

“If that was the case, we would not be here on the ground helping to campaign for the candidate,” he said.

Kluang Amanah had previously lobbied to contest Mahkota, with Amanah Youth executive council member Fadhli Umar Aminolhuda saying that he was determined to push for the party to field a candidate, since the Johor government is not a unity government.

Amanah’s insistence drew brickbats from several Umno leaders, with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi warning other parties in the unity government coalition not to demand to contest the seat.

PN will be represented by Haizan Jaafar in the Sept 28 by-election. Early voting is set for Sept 24.