TAN Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has dismissed Selat Kelang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari’s recent claims that the Selangor Bersatu chapter is being controlled by a “cartel”.
“There is no cartel. He (Rashid) claims there is a cartel. What cartel?” responded Muhyiddin when quizzed on the matter outside the Registrar of Societies (ROS) office in Putrajaya this morning.
Muhyiddin stressed that Bersatu functions according to its party constitution and that there are rules that everyone must adhere to.
“Abdul Rashid was the (Selangor) Bersatu chairman so if there were a cartel, it would be his,” he said.
“Don’t look for excuses and reasons after committing a big mistake, and then blame the party for it. Making accusations against the party is an irresponsible act,” Muhyiddin said, referring to Abdul Rashid’s declaration of support for Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari on March 6.
Abdul Rashid was quoted by a news portal as claiming that the party’s Selangor chapter was under the influence of a cartel headed by a leader who recently joined the party.
He said this was one of the reasons why he decided to declare his support for Amirudin while remaining a Bersatu member, Utusan Malaysia reported.
Although he did not mention names, it is believed that the assemblyman was referring to Selangor Bersatu chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
The term “cartel” is often used in PKR to refer to Azmin and 10 MPs who defected from the party. This led to the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020.
Azmin subsequently joined Bersatu and replaced Rashid as the state Bersatu chief. He is also the state opposition leader.
Interestingly, Abdul Rashid was not the only Bersatu member who had made allegations of a “cartel” within the party.
Recall that former Bersatu supreme council member Dr Muhammad Faiz Na’aman had previously made a similar claim last year, saying that Bersatu now resembled nothing more than a public toilet or worse as it was not being properly managed.
Speaking in an interview with Malaysiakini on Aug 9, 2023, Faiz was quoted as saying that the influence of the “cartel” group within Bersatu is so strong that “they have turned the party into something akin to a public toilet or a brothel, where anyone can come and go easily”.
Formerly one of the outspoken top leaders who expressed dissatisfaction with the situation, he explained that certain individuals who joined other parties were able to get involved with Bersatu again.
Citing favouritism and loss of direction within the party, Faiz had since resigned from Bersatu. – March 11, 2024
Main pic credit: Kosmo Digital
