Muhyiddin Yassin has a split personality while Hamzah Zainuddin is motivated by revenge, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said of his two former Bersatu colleagues in an interview with Malaysiakini published today.
The two of them, aided by PKR deputy president turned renegade Mohamed Azmin Ali, engineered the plot to take Bersatu out of Pakatan Harapan and stage a coup, said the former prime minister.
“Muhyiddin has two personalities. One that recites prayers and another which oppresses people. He can oppress people while reciting prayers. It is his internal conflict,” Dr Mahathir said of the Bersatu president who has had the temerity to sack the very founder of the party.
“When we were together, (Muhyiddin) always said ‘I don’t want to be prime minister’. But behind my back, he asked others to nominate him.”
Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah, meanwhile, had joined Bersatu solely for the purpose of paying back PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
Hamzah, 63, was among the 10 Umno members who defected last year to Bersatu
Dr Mahathir said Hamzah had resented Bersatu’s alliance with PKR.
‘Bad intentions’
“Hamzah had only one ‘perjuangan’ (agenda). It was not race, religion and country. His ‘perjuangan’ was revenge against Anwar.
“When he joined Bersatu, Bersatu was with PKR. PKR is led by Anwar. He wanted Bersatu to be out of Harapan and not be involved with Anwar.
“He has been working on this since the beginning… He planned to convince Umno and PAS to support me so that I would leave Harapan and join his new coalition, a coalition without Anwar.”
Dr Mahathir said Hamzah “joined Bersatu with bad intentions”.
“I told him a long time ago, ‘Your goal is Anwar’s downfall, but we don’t share that objective’. However, he continued his campaign…to detach (Bersatu) from Anwar who (at the time) might become prime minister.
“He wanted to prevent Anwar from becoming prime minister. So, he formed a new coalition and wanted me to switch sides.
“I did not agree.”
PM is not always right
As for Azmin, Dr Mahathir said the former Selangor menteri besar aided Muhyiddin and Hamzah in the plot.
Azmin was known as Dr Mahathir’s protege from way back and is largely blamed for being the main architect of PH’s implosion.
Azmin was the host of the February hotel gathering of PKR and Bersatu factions, Umno and PAS leaders that came to be known as the “Sheraton move”.
“He possesses experience and I gave him a senior position… We thought he could help the Malays develop. That is all.
“Although some of his work was not properly managed, to me, any minister, even the prime minister, is not always right.”
Unfortunately, that might well have been proven true in the case of Dr Mahathir’s decision to pick the three men to serve in his cabinet. – TMI