Dr M first mooted idea of joining hands with Umno, PAS

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Two Bersatu supreme council members claim Dr M first mooted idea of joining hands with Umno, PAS

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Bersatu supreme council meeting on Feb 23 

PETALING JAYA: The idea of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) joining hands with Malay-based parties Umno and PAS to ensure political stability was first mooted by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself, as far back as right after the last general election, two Bersatu supreme council members have claimed.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan and Datuk Razali Idris said Dr Mahathir had then told the supreme council that Bersatu had failed to gather the Malay votes in the 14th General Election (GE14) in May 2018 under Pakatan Harapan, and that the Malays were deemed “politically unhappy”.

Further, Bersatu was accepted into Pakatan, joining DAP and PKR, as the parties had realised at the time that with the exit of PAS, they would be doomed in GE14 if they did not have a Malay-based political party in the coalition.

The two supreme council members said they decided to tell all following the leak of two audio clips of what transpired during the supreme council meeting on Feb 23 this year.

Both claimed the two audio clips did not fully describe what happened during the meeting, and the excerpts being released painted a poor picture of party president and Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's role.

Wan Saiful said the two audio clips from the supreme council meeting on Feb 23, a day before Dr Mahathir resigned as Bersatu chairman and prime minister, were a poor attempt to show that the supreme council had turned against Dr Mahathir.

The supreme council members also said that the “emotional rejection” of the chairman's resignation was unconstitutional.

Wan Saiful said this was because the supreme council has no authority to do so under Article 16.9 of the party constitution, which states that if the chairman resigns or is stripped of his post, the president would have to assume the post until there is a poll to elect a new chairman according to Article 13.3, empowered through Article 16.2.

“The constitution does not allow a U-turn once the chairman resigns. There is no provision for the supreme council to reject the resignation of the chairman and thus, the rejection was unconstitutional.

“If a chairman resigns, the only way to return as chairman is to run for the post in the party's next election.

"So, there is a question about Dr Mahathir's chairmanship that has not yet been answered, ” Wan Saiful said.

Party disciplinary board chairman Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin also said that the actions of Dr Mahathir, deputy president Datuk Seri Muhkriz Mahathir and Youth chief Syed Saddiq in refusing to adhere to the decision by the supreme council to be part of Perikatan Nasional also automatically disqualified their membership as per Article 10.2.3 of the Bersatu constitution.

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The resignation of Dr Mahathir on Feb 24 led to a fallout between him and most Bersatu leaders when Muhyiddin was made the Prime Minister on March 1, and saw a change in government.