KUALA LUMPUR – Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s persistent questioning of the post-15th general election events is a “sad reflection of his ethereal fantasy” of becoming prime minister again.
In a Facebook post, DAP deputy secretary-general Liew Chin Tong said that the possibility of Muhyiddin becoming prime minister is no longer viable.
“Even PAS has strategically positioned the party’s rising star Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Samsuri Mokhtar, who won the Kemaman by-election in 2023, as the next prime ministerial candidate,” he added.
Liew went on to say that what kept Bersatu together was Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021, along with the belief that he could return to the position.
This belief, supported by PAS, contributed to Perikatan Nasional securing a significant number of votes and winning 74 out of the 222 parliamentary seats in GE15, he added.
He also said that the Nenggiri by-election results and the controversies surrounding Muhyiddin’s royal insults reinforced the point that the Bersatu president is still trapped in the past glory of his short-stint premiership and could not move on.
“When he continues to harp on the events of November 2022 that led him to question the formal judgement of the (former) king, it is indeed a sad reflection of his ethereal fantasy,” he said.
Liew’s response came after 29 police reports were filed and criticisms were directed at Muhyiddin for questioning the sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, regarding his decision not to appoint Muhyiddin as prime minister during his time as king.
Muhyiddin’s comments, which were recorded in a video posted on TikTok, were on how he had enough support from MPs to be prime minister, but Sultan Abdullah did not invite him to form the federal government after GE15.
Among those who have lodged police reports are the Pekan Umno Youth and Puteri wings in Pahang, as well as DAP lawmaker RSN Rayer, also the Jelutong MP, who called for Muhyiddin to be investigated for sedition.
Liew said that Bersatu, as it stands today, was shaped when Muhyiddin took power and has stayed together because many believe he could become prime minister again after being removed in August 2021.
“It was this idea that brought Perikatan Nasional a significant number of votes, with the help of PAS, and helped the coalition win 74 out of the 222 parliamentary seats in GE15.
“For comparison, despite some defections, Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim held together a core group of leaders from 1998 to 2022 despite having no access to power and being in jail for a significant part of that period (1998 to 2004, 2015 to 2018),” he said.
Liew called the Sheraton Move, which launched Muhyiddin into the top post, a “mathematical exercise” that cannot be repeated, given “PN’s latent unsustainability.”
“Muhyiddin’s makeshift governing coalition comprising three Malay parties – Bersatu, Umno, and PAS – was not sustainable structurally. He also had to kick out Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s group from Bersatu and accept PKR renegades led by Azmin Ali.
“The other group in Bersatu that supported Muhyiddin was the Umno deserters led by Hamzah Zainudin. They won their seats on a Barisan Nasional ticket but abandoned their party when Umno lost power for the first time in history in GE14,” he said.
“What is the strength of Bersatu today? It is a very disparate and distinctive group brought together by circumstances with little in common.
“The split between Azmin and Hamzah is imminent,” he added. – August 24, 2024