PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the one who initiated the move for Bersatu to leave Pakatan Harapan but decided against it at the very last minute when he received support from Pakatan for him to continue as prime minister, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic).
The Perikatan Nasional chairman claimed that Dr Mahathir’s decision to step down as prime minister in February 2020 was not because he no longer had the support of the party’s supreme council.
“He made a ‘U-turn’ at the last minute when the Pakatan presidential council in its meeting on Feb 21, 2020 decided to continue to support him as prime minister,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Oct 30).
Muhyiddin added that prior to that, Dr Mahathir was urged by several parties in Pakatan to step down in order to make way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be appointed as the eighth prime minister.
“After the Pakatan presidential council decided to continue to support him as prime minister, he tried to convince the Bersatu supreme council to remain in Pakatan.
“But the Bersatu supreme council almost unanimously decided otherwise,” he added.
Muhyiddin said that the decision was made because Bersatu believed that they were losing the support of the Malays.
He added that in the Semenyih and Tanjung Piai by-elections, Bersatu candidates who were contesting under Pakatan had lost, despite previously winning in the two seats during GE14.
Muhyiddin also claimed that Dr Mahathir’s position as prime minister was not affected by Bersatu’s decision to leave Pakatan as there were signed declarations by 138 Members of Parliament that supported him as prime minister, including from Bersatu, PKR, PAS, Barisan, GPS, PBS and Warisan.
“I am one of the MPs who signed a declaration to continue to support him as prime minister.
“Despite being disappointed with the Bersatu’s decision, Dr Mahathir should not have resigned.
“Unfortunately, Dr Mahathir resigned on his own accord,” he said.