Ismail’s nomination proves Umno is ready to face GE15, says Tok Mat

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan today said that the party’s decision to nominate Ismail Sabri Yaakob as its prime ministerial candidate for the 15th general election (GE15) proves that it is stable and united in facing the challenges to come at the polls.

He said the decision clearly showed Umno’s maturity, putting a stop to speculation that the party was in turmoil over who should be its “poster boy”.

“For me, in facing GE15, we have to put our house in order first. If our house is in turmoil and we are fighting over who should be highlighted, that would raise questions and would definitely not be good for the party. So, when the leadership came out with the decision, we were relieved.

“People said Umno was in turmoil over who should be the poster boy. We have shown them that we all agree that the prime minister is the best candidate… that Umno is united, calm and all set to face the election,” he said to reporters after attending the opening ceremony of the first meeting of the fifth session of the 14th state assembly in Seremban.

Mohamad, who is also Rantau assemblyman and Umno election director, also repeated his stance that now until June would be the best time for the election to be held due to the overwhelming enthusiasm among party members following the victories in the Melaka and Johor state elections.

He said he would start going to each state to monitor and scrutinise which seats were winnable and should be focused on after the Aidilfitri celebration.

“There are seats that we want to retain, there are seats that we want to regain and there are seats were we want to minimise losses. That’s my strategy… we have to be realistic, we are not contesting all seats,” he said.