Perikatan foiled Pakatan’s “backdoor” political coup, Hadi Awang says

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang urged the Government to ignore accusations of the Perikatan Nasional Government failing to contain COVID-19 and ignoring the people’s plight.

“No doubt, the new administration led by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is a continuation of former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s legacy.

“The Pakatan Harapan leadership failed to overthrow Perikatan using ‘backdoor’ maneuverings. They are too busy politicking while the people are suffering due to COVID-19 and the economic malaise caused by it,” he said in Harakah Daily today.

After Ismail Sabri took over the premiership from Muhyiddin, he drew public ire for retaining almost all of the same faces from the previous Cabinet line-up, albeit some minor reshuffling, triggering many to call it a “recycled” Cabinet.

Note that Muhyiddin fell after several Umno MPs aligned to its president, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi withdrew support from the former.

Following Ismail Sabri’s ascension to power, he extended an olive branch to Pakatan by offering them seats at the National Recovery Council (NRP) and COVID-19 Task Force.

After a closed-door meeting between the Prime Minister and top Pakatan leaders, the latter assured Ismail Sabri that they would not be an “obstacle” when a confidence vote is tabled at the Dewan Rakyat next month, provided he enacted policies focused on containing COVID-19 and rejuvenating the economy.

In a statement over the weekend, Zahid called upon Ismail Sabri not to call the current administration as the Perikatan Government anymore.

Not “recycled” Cabinet, just ensuring continuity

Taking potshots at Pakatan, Hadi said that Perikatan Government is different from Pakatan, accusing the latter of failing to deliver its electoral promises despite winning the 2018 general election.

He added that Pakatan now suffers from the “politicking pandemic”, being too focused on ascending the premiership until many of its own leaders and members had left the Opposition bloc.

“And Perikatan has not failed. It’s just that the task is still on-going and Pakatan leaders should wait until everything has ended before playing politics,” the Marang MP noted.

On the “recycled” Cabinet jab, Hadi dismissed the notion outright and said that Ismail Sabri retained the same team to ensure continuity of the work progress made.

“And I urge our Cabinet members to accept participation from all quarters, including those from the Opposition and non-governmental organisations (NGO) to help rejuvenate our country.

“As for Pakatan, please become more advisory in your approach instead of becoming a disruptive force,” he concluded. – Aug 30, 2021

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