KUALA LUMPUR: Even if the 15th General Election (GE15) had been called right after the Melaka and Johor state elections, Barisan Nasional would still not have won, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
“As the prime minister then, I received reports from various agencies which showed that Barisan would not be able to win.
“At that time, the economy was still recovering after being adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The recovery process should have continued and Parliament should not have been dissolved then,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said economic recovery efforts had begun to bear fruit at the time, adding that the country’s economy grew 8.7%.
“It (the recovery) was the best in South-East Asia and among the best in the world.
“But the efforts could not continue due to continuous calls to dissolve Parliament. Because we were confident of winning without solid reasons, Barisan ended up losing GE15,” he added.
He disagreed with Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, who claimed that the GE15 outcome would have been different for Barisan if Parliament had been dissolved after the Melaka and Johor state polls.
“The truth is that simplistic views without facts and statistics caused Barisan to lose in GE15.
“Umno predicted that Barisan could obtain the 112-seat requirement and form the government by itself. The question is, was a comprehensive study done before making such a projection?” Ismail Sabri asked.
He also said state polls could not be used as an indicator for a general election as the nation’s political scene was very dynamic.
“State polls and the general election are two different matters. State polls focus on state-level issues such as the performance of the state government.
“A general election involves national issues,” said Ismail Sabri, adding that public perception towards Barisan at the time was “not good”.
He said the real reason why Barisan lost GE15 was because Ahmad, who was then Umno secretary-general, had made assumptions without backing them up with statistics involving federal-level support for the coalition.
Ahmad had made the claim in an earlier tweet.
“Timing is very important in politics. Let the past be a reminder,” he tweeted.
On Friday, suspended Umno member Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman accused Ahmad of only listening to certain people around him and failing to address concerns from the grassroots.
During the Melaka election in November 2020 and the Johor state polls in March last year, Barisan managed to secure a two-thirds majority victory in both states.
