SEREMBAN: Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (pic) has denied saying that Umno could do without the support of its component parties to form the state government, or that it wanted to contest all the 36 seats in the state the next time around.
The Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar said he was only thinking of ways to strengthen Barisan Nasional when he proposed to the national leadership that Umno be picked to contest Malay-majority seats in the next general election.
"I always think how Barisan can be stronger and thought that the leadership may want to consider allowing Umno to contest Malay-majority seats.
"All I said was that the traditional formula or seat allocation nationwide may need to be reviewed to strengthen Barisan.
"There was no malice or ill intention on my part when I openly proposed that," he told reporters here Monday.
Mohamad said if Umno stood a better chance of winning a seat, there was nothing wrong if its choice of candidate was picked.
In return, Barisan component parties could always be offered the position of senator and this would even give them a better chance of a minister or deputy minister post.
"The most important thing here is for Barisan to win.
"We are going to face a very tough election the next time around and it will be pointless for us to use the old formula on seat allocation if it is not going to work," he said.
Citing another example, Mohamad said he was certain that Barisan would be able to recapture the Teluk Kemang parliamentary seat if former mentri besar Tan Sri Isa Samad was picked as candidate.
Isa, who is Teluk Kemang Umno chief, is now Jempol MP. The Teluk Kemang seat, which was once Barisan's stronghold, was traditionally contested by the MIC.
The seat was won by the PKR in the past two general elections.
Mohamad also took a swipe at certain media organisations and news portals for misrepresenting what he said at the opening of the Seremban Umno meeting by party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Saturday.
"I did not say that Umno must be allowed to contest all 36 state seats in Negri Sembilan.
"What I said was that if Umno wins all the 22 state seats it contests, then it can form the state government even if our component parties don’t win any of the remaining 14 seats allotted to them," he said.
In the 2013 general election, Umno won 21 of the 22 seats for Barisan in the state. The other was won by the MIC.
The Opposition won in the 14 other state constituencies.
Mohamad said he had never sidelined the other races and the state Barisan component chiefs could vouch for this.
"It is also my hope that any one who wished to respond to whatever is reported would get their facts verified first.
"Please do so because what ever you say later can be very damaging," he said.
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