PAGOH: Perikatan Nasional will be contesting all 28 state seats in the Melaka election next month, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

       The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president said his party and its Perikatan partners, PAS and Gerakan, hoped to speed up seat negotiations soon.

       “We have no problems facing two, three or four-cornered fights in this election,” he said after a working visit to Bukit Gambir here.

       Muhyiddin, who is Pagoh MP and Gambir assemblyman, was commenting on Umno’s decision not to work with Perikatan in the Melaka election scheduled for Nov 20.

       He had on Thursday said in Melaka that Perikatan was prepared to face three-cornered fights in the state polls.

       Asked who would be Perikatan’s choice for chief minister should it capture the state, Muhyiddin did not reveal any names but stressed that they had many qualified candidates.

       In his speech at the event, Muhyiddin said that as chairman of the National Recovery Council, he wanted to find out the problems faced by the people.

       “One aspect is to get foreign workers from Bangladesh or Indonesia as there is a manpower crunch due to locals not willing to take up such jobs, especially in the plantation sector,” he said.

       The former prime minister added that proper standard operating procedure needed to be put in place, such as bringing in only workers who had been fully vaccinated and undergone quarantine.

       He urged state governments to also speed up the formation of the state-level recovery council to address issues within their respective states.