KUALA LUMPUR: The clock is ticking for Barisan Nasional (BN) to either choose Pakatan Harapan (PH) or Perikatan Nasional (PN) to form the next federal government.
Sources within BN revealed that there is a concerted effort by two factions in the coalition to reach a deal as soon as possible.
This was after Istana Negara issued a deadline for all party and coalition heads to reach an agreement and present their numbers to the palace latest by 2pm tomorrow, through Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun.
According to party insiders, the Umno supreme council is split into two, with one faction wanting to work with PH and the other wanting to work with PN.
The sources claimed that one faction belonging to Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi preferred to work with PH rather than PN due to their recent "upsetting experience" working with the pact.
The insiders said while Zahid's team wants to see all races in Malaysia be united under one coalition, the other faction is interested in uniting only the Malay community.
"The other is the 'cabinet' group, consisting of (caretaker prime minister) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his cabinet members who prefer to work with PN.
"This group feels that Malay unity can be achieved by uniting the Malay parties, namely Umno, Bersatu and Pas.
"Zahid's group, on the other hand, is offering a unity of all races in the country rather than just one race.
"Since DAP is part of PH and has the overwhelming support of the Chinese community in Malaysia, this group believes that DAP together with Umno can unite the entire country," the source said.
It is unclear which coalition BN would align itself with.
