Reluctance to give up BN's 'scale' logo after by-election victories

Some Umno leaders continue to express reluctance at giving up BN's logo in favour of a common symbol representing Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the next general election.

This is amid a resurgence in BN's fortunes as it scored a series of by-election victories.

Umno supreme council member Ahmad Shabery Cheek (below) said the BN logo has had its ups and downs, including having suffered a humiliating defeat against an independent candidate in 1988 when Dr Mahathir Mohamad led the coalition at the time.

Umno's Shahrir Samad, who was in a tiff with Mahathir, had resigned as the Johor Bahru MP at the time and recontested as an independent after Mahathir claimed he could not win without BN.

Shahrir won the by-election using the "key" logo.

"It took time for us to recover. Likewise, in the 14th general election, the BN symbol was also damaged but it only took us a year to recover," he said.

However, he said the BN logo has now helped the coalition to win a slew of by-elections.

"Since 2019, the BN logo has been tested time and time again, in Cameron Highlands, Semenyih, Rantau, Tanjung Piai, Kimanis, and recently Chini. The logo won big," he said in a Facebook post.

"Therefore, changing the logo is not an easy thing to do," he added.

Last week, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, in an interview with Umno Online, also objected to using any logo other than BN's scale in the 15th general election.

Meanwhile, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin (below) told Malaysiakini that his party had yet to receive any instructions on using a new logo in the 15th general election.

"Sabah Umno's position is that we will use the BN logo in any election," he said.

However, Selangor Umno Youth chief Rizam Ismail said he will comply with any decision made by the top leadership.

"I leave it to the leadership led by the party president to decide.

"I will support any decision by the leadership," he said.

The Pakatan Harapan government, which came into power in the 2018 general election, collapsed in late February after Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin pulled his party out of the coalition government.

Muhyiddin was sworn in as the new prime minister on March 1 after putting together a new coalition comprising Bersatu, PKR defectors, BN, PAS, GPS, PBS, and Star.

He is now working to formalise PN for the next general election.

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