BERSATU president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has asked former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his help to become prime minister again.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday (April 1) at his office in Al-Bukhary Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir said that he, too, was puzzled as to why Muhyiddin had done so.
“I don’t know but he asked me. We are not strong, we don’t have money, but he asked us to support him,” the Pejuang chairman said when asked how his party would be able to help Bersatu as Pejuang does not have many MPs.
While the Langkawi MP told reporters that Pejuang had not made any decision on the matter, it was alluded that the 96-year-old veteran politician was against the idea.
“I didn’t know what to say to him. I stepped down from the prime minister’s post because of what Muhyiddin did. He backstabbed me. The person he backstabbed isn’t even dead yet,” Mahathir was reported as saying by Malaysiakini.
Mahathir was referring to the Sheraton Move, the political coup that had caused the collapse of the former Pakatan Harapan administration after 22 months in Putrajaya.
Mahathir and a handful of other MPs were sacked from Bersatu, following which they set up Pejuang which contested for the first time in the Johor state polls held recently.
Muhyiddin’s weak leadership, undeserving of support
Mahathir went on to imply that Muhyiddin’s performance as prime minister was unimpressive and undeserving of support, adding that many people were not happy with Muhyiddin’s leadership.
“He was not a good prime minister. If he had achieved some great things for Malaysia, I’m sure he can become prime minister again even without our support,” he noted.
“We are not going to support a prime minister who was as much a failure as [Datuk Seri] Najib Abdul Razak was.”
According to Mahathir, Pejuang will only work with parties who are committed to fighting corruption.
“These parties must make a clear declaration that they do not approve of corruption and that they don’t contest elections by giving money to people,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, when asked if he would follow DAP veteran lawmaker Lim Kit Siang’s footsteps in retiring from politics, Mahathir said that he may not contest in the 15th General Election (GE15), although he is not leaving the party yet.
He further argued that Pejuang still has the support of the people despite the party’s dismal performance in the Johor state election where all 42 of its candidates lost their deposits.
“We have about 5,000 Pejuang members in Johor and gained about 50,000 votes in total. There are a lot of people who are not members of Pejuang who are actually supporting us. We didn’t get other support because they did not come out to vote,” he said. – April 1, 2022
