Umno Supreme Council member Mahdzir Khalid said that although the collaboration at the national level is very good, there is a need to strengthen the unity at the grassroots level especially if BN and PH were to contest the next general election as a team.

“Both PH and BN must be serious in their commitment to win in the general election,” he told FMT.

He said his call for mutual understanding was over the ongoing collaboration between the two coalitions at the state level, but he did not elaborate.

The Johor state government is formed by BN, which has 40 seats in the state assembly. PH (12 seats) is not in the state government but is an ally, providing support in confidence and supply votes.

There have been calls by PH members for a unity state government to be formed in Johor, in line with the federal government in which PH and BN are partners together with East Malaysian parties.

Mahdzir’s call for PH’s understanding was made when he opened the Pengerang Umno divisional delegates’ meeting. He said that as BN understood PH’s perspective, the latter should do the same, Sinar Harian quoted him as saying.

He urged Umno members to be ready to meet various challenges, including truths, half-truths, and slander, in preparing for the next general election.

“We must learn from what has happened before,” he said, pointing to how the entire country believed the accusations levelled against former prime minister and then Umno president Najib Razak.

Mahdzir, who is also Kedah Umno chairman, said the party can no longer afford to remain complacent if it wants to secure victory at the next general election, which might be in 2027.

“We have to think about how to increase our number of seats, not just maintain the parliamentary and state seats we already hold,” he said.