Muhyiddin avoiding Umno over 'new deal'?

Malaysiakini:



Muhyiddin avoiding Umno over 'new deal'?

Some Umno leaders are accusing Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of avoiding them to discuss new conditions for the party to continue cooperating with Perikatan Nasional.

This followed several attempts by Umno leaders to meet Muhyiddin after the Umno supreme council's decision on Oct 26 to continue supporting the PN government.

"The prime minister was supposed to meet a top Umno official on Wednesday or Thursday. It didn't happen. The prime minister was too busy.

"Yesterday, the prime minister couldn't make it again. He had to be in Pagoh, Johor.

"We think Muhyiddin is avoiding us over the discussions of the new conditions," said an Umno source who is familiar with the ongoing negotiations.

The Umno source said this when asked on the latest developments on the discussions between the party and the PN coalition which Muhyiddin leads.

The relationship between Umno and PN has been increasingly tense in recent months, more so after the Sabah elections which saw PN taking the chief ministership.

According to the source, Umno's continued working relationship with Bersatu and PN hinges upon the new conditions.

"Although the Umno supreme council has resolved that Umno MPs will continue to support the PN government, whether or not that support will continue will depend on the feedback from the prime minister on the conditions which Umno will raise eventually," said the source.

According to the source, the Umno supreme council had on Oct 29 established a new committee to fine-tune the new conditions.

"The committee has four persons led by deputy president Mohamad Hasan. Other members are secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, former Perak menteri besar Zambry Abdul Kadir and former finance minister (II) Johari Abdul Ghani," he said.

Several Bersatu leaders contacted by Malaysiakini have yet to respond to a request for comments at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, a top Umno official told Malaysiakini that Muhyiddin would have to meet Umno leaders eventually.

"(Avoiding us) does not arise because the prime minister has to meet Umno on parliamentary affairs," said the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Parliament reconvenes on Monday. Malaysiakini understands that Muhyiddin will be in Kuala Lumpur to speak to PN MPs but there does not appear to be any scheduled meeting with non-PN MPs as yet.