“Is Muhyiddin saying that only he can betray UMNO and PH?”

“Is Muhyiddin saying that only he can betray UMNO and PH?”




PENANG Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy has slammed Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for his reaction to Johor Bersatu chief Mazlan Bujang resigning from the party.

Noting that Mazlan was throwing his support behind Barisan Nasional (BN) for the upcoming state polls, Muhyiddin on Thursday (Jan 27) had questioned if the former really believed that UMNO would field him as a candidate.

Calling Muhyiddin “holier-than-thou” Ramasamy said that the former premier should be the last person on earth to talk about betrayals.

“He himself had betrayed the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the first place, and it was just a matter of time before his action comes back to haunt him,” he justified.

“He should look himself in the mirror and perhaps ask the mirror who is the most notorious frog in the country – the mirror’s reply will be obvious.”

Two-way traffic between UMNO and Bersatu nothing unusual

On Mazlan’s resignation from the party and him possibly joining UMNO, Ramasamy noted that there is so much porosity between UMNO and Bersatu that the “two-way traffic is nothing unusual”.

He added that there is hardly any ideological difference between both parties and that Bersatu was formed by a breakaway faction of UMNO back in 2016.

“The leadership of UMNO and Bersatu were provided by two former prime ministers – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin respectively,” Ramasamy commented.

“Muhyiddin, as the leader of Bersatu, could not hold on to the premiership for long as he faced the prospect of losing the majority in the Parliament.

“To him is simple primitive logic. It was all right for him to betray UMNO and the PH coalition by engineering the Sheraton Move but it is unthinkable for others to ‘betray’ Bersatu like what Mazlan had done.

“If Mazlan wanted to resign from Bersatu, he was merely expressing his desire to rejoin the party that he had originally come from.

“Mazlan is as opportunistic as other Bersatu leaders and perhaps he had found that he has a better future in UMNO than the sinking Bersatu.”

Ramasamy went on to question the significance of the timing of Mazlan’s resignation.

“What is so significant about the timing? Why does it matter whether he resigned before the dissolution of the Johor state assembly or after the announcement?” he asked.

“The timing might be significant to Muhyiddin, but to frogs like Mazlan and others, any time is a good time.”

He also noted that while Muhyiddin was holding on to Bersatu which might face extinction in the wake of UMNO’s onslaught in the forthcoming Johor state polls, some Bersatu members were quick to realise that the party was sinking.

“It is better for Mazlan to quit Bersatu at the opportune time so that he could still have an opportunity to contest, win and be considered for a an executive council post in the new state government,” he noted.

Pot calling the kettle black

Veteran unionist K Veeriah similarly criticised Muhyiddin for calling Mazlan out on his ‘betrayal’, pointing out that this was akin to the pot calling the kettle black.

“The case of Mazlan Bujang is a script that has become a norm in our political ecosystem but Mazlan’s departure, in all probabilities, would cause limited damage,” he opined.

“But when you engineered the mother of all betrayals and in the process grappled for prime ministership through immoral political manoeuvrings, where was your honour?

“When you rolled the dice in pursuit of your self-centred political expediency, you brought down a democratically-elected government. So where was your honour then?”

Veeriah went on to point out that Muhyiddin had “reaped what he sowed”.

“You, as the paramount leader of Bersatu, sowed the seeds of betrayal and backstabbing so don’t whine about it now when someone else followed the example that you had set!” – Jan 28, 2022