Ku Li says a unity government may be the way forward

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says he is considering an enlarged coalition to form a unity government if he wins the Umno presidency.

The Umno veteran says he sees himself as a leader who can bring together all the rival factions in Malaysian politics and forge a “safer road” for the country.

“I think I am quite acceptable to a lot of people. I can talk to all the various factions,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He said he had brought up the matter of a unity government in meetings with opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.

Over the next few weeks, he is expected to bring up the matter in discussions with Barisan Nasional leaders.

Tengku Razaleigh has offered himself as a candidate for the Umno presidency, and is likely to take on Datuk Seri Najib Razak if, as expected, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi does not defend his post.

But the Umno veteran faces heavy odds against him getting the required number of nominations needed to be officially allowed to be a candidate.

The Kelantan prince lost the last ever contest for the party presidency against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1987 by a wafer-thin margin.

Besides the idea of a unity government, he is offering up a number of reforms to Umno and BN if he gets elected this time.

The reforms include turning BN into a single, multiracial party and having direct elections for all Umno posts.

"I hope to offer pragmatic leadership to bring everyone together and to unite the people of all races," he said.

He said that former Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had also enlarged the ruling coalition, turning the Alliance into BN by absorbing parties like Gerakan.

"As he said then we should stop playing politics and concentrate on development," he said.

Tengku Razaleigh said it was clear to him that the Pakatan Rakyat parties received tremendous support in the March general election because of the arrogance and the abuse of power in government, most notably by Umno.

The Umno veteran said that the support for PR could well be a temporary phase, but Umno had done nothing since March 8 to try to regain lost ground.

He said the formation of a unity government with PR parties is something he is looking at.

"A unity government is a possibility. There is nothing wrong with it.

"We can find common ground to work together," he said.

-TMI