JEMPOL, July 24 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) Election Director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has dismissed suggestions that the coalition’s cooperation with Barisan Nasional (BN) could be rebranded as Perikatan Barisan Nasional (PBN), saying the idea has never been formally discussed by the leadership of either coalition.
Speaking to reporters after the PN-BN Grand Ceramah in the Serting state constituency on Friday night, Sanusi said the proposal was merely a personal opinion and had not been raised at any official meeting.
“There has been no discussion. I’ve never even heard about it. Perhaps Hamzah simply suggested it on his own. There has never been any discussion at that level,” he said.
The Kedah Menteri Besar stressed that PN and BN remain separate political coalitions with their own respective parties.
“Each coalition has its own parties. PN has its own, BN has its own. So where did PBN come from? There is no political coalition called PBN,” he added.
Sanusi also urged the public not to overstate the issue, describing the proposed name as merely an “accessory” rather than a matter of policy or official decision.
“It is not a policy issue. There has been no discussion on it, so there is no need to make it a big issue,” he said.
The proposal was previously floated by Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, who suggested that the PN-BN electoral cooperation be referred to as PBN to avoid confusing supporters ahead of the Negeri Sembilan state election on Aug 1.
According to Hamzah, the abbreviation would be simpler and easier for voters to understand than referring to the alliance as “PN-BN.”
However, the suggestion drew mixed reactions from BN leaders.
BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said there had been no official discussions on extending the cooperation beyond the Negeri Sembilan state election.
Meanwhile, UMNO vice-president and Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail described the proposed name as irrelevant, saying it could create the impression that a new political coalition had been formed.
He reiterated that the current cooperation between BN and PN is solely an electoral understanding for the Negeri Sembilan state election.
— MINUTESMY
