Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said BN's landslide victory in the Tanjung Piai by-election last night signalled the people's recognition of Muafakat Nasional.

Muafakat Nasional is a political pact formed between Umno and PAS in September. While PAS is not in a formal alliance with MCA and MIC, it has adopted a friendly approach to Umno's BN allies.

"The win is a people's victory. It is the manifestation of the rejection of a government that oppresses and neglects the people. The government no longer enjoys the people's confidence.

"The people have spoken to recognise Muafakat Nasional as the defender of their future," he said in a statement today.

Yesterday, BN's Wee Jeck Seng, who is from MCA, wrested the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat from Pakatan Harapan with a whopping 15,086-vote majority.

Zahid also thanked the BN machinery comprising Umno, MCA and MIC as well as PAS' backing.

However, he said the coalition cannot be too engrossed with the victory and must continue to build its momentum.

'Dissolve Parliament'

Meanwhile, opposition leader Ismail Sabri, who is also the Umno vice-president, said the Harapan government should dissolve Parliament as it has lost the confidence of the people.

"The Tanjung Piai results is a people's referendum which has rejected the government of the day.

"Therefore, if the government is truly sensitive towards the people's voice, it has no other choice other than to dissolve Parliament.

"Let the people decide the country's future," he said in a separate statement.

Ismail said Harapan lost despite making various promises of allocations to the constituency.

However, he said Harapan's policies, such as scaling back on rural aid, has burdened the community there.

"Even though Harapan ministers made all kinds of sweet promises to the people of Tanjung Piai, they no longer believed in Harapan.

"It is enough to be lied to once, they are not willing to be lied to again," he said.