SEMBRONG MP Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he and nine other Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs who signed statutory declarations (SDs) backing Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister following the 15th General Election (GE15) cannot be labelled “traitors”.
This is because they had toed the line and retracted their SDs when the coalition finally made a decision, said the BN treasurer-general.
“To this day, I don’t know why we are being accused of being traitors. I’m confident that following what has transpired, there is nothing that we have to apologise for,” he was quoted as saying by FMT.
“If they (UMNO) want to take action (against us), go ahead. There’s nothing for me to worry about.”
Hishammuddin pointed out that they had signed the SDs backing Muhyiddin as prime minister based on BN’s initial stand of accepting their loss in GE15 and remaining as the opposition to act as a “check and balance” for the new government.
He also noted that after the King called for a unity government, they had assumed the party would abide by the King’s decree.
“So, where is the betrayal?” he questioned.
However, it is also interesting to note at this point that on Nov 21, 2022 Hishammuddin had maintained that he will not support any cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to form the federal government.
Recall that in a Facebook post, he had maintained that BN should not work with PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or DAP, adding that he is “ready to be sacked by the party but I will not change my stand”.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin further called for an end to accusations and open spats among UMNO members and said it was important that the party moved forward following its dismal performance in GE15 which saw the party only winning 27 seats and 31% of the popular vote.
“During this general assembly, I hope that we can discuss the party’s direction and how we can regain the people’s belief in the party and our struggle,” he said.
“That is much better than using this platform to squabble among ourselves and to attack or accuse one another. We have had enough of that.”
In a special briefing to the political bureaus of the party’s divisions before the start of UMNO’s general assembly, Zahid had identified the 10 MPs who had gone behind the coalition’s back by signing SDs in support of Muhyiddin after GE15 had resulted in a hung Parliament.
After the special briefing, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zakarshi said Zahid revealed that six of the MPs were from UMNO – Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong), Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad (Simpang Renggam), Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu), Datuk Isam Isa (Tampin), Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (Kuala Pilah) and Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad (Lipis).
MCA’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam) and Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng (Tanjung Piai), MIC’s Datuk Seri M. Saravanan (Tapah) and PBRS’ Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup (Pensiangan) made up the other four MPs. – Jan 13, 2023
