Pejuang chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad alleged today that certain Bersatu leaders were willing to defect if his party could match their income of up to RM70,000 a month.
Mahathir said the defection offer was made when certain “brokers” approached him to return to Bersatu, which he had formed in 2016 together with Muhyiddin Yassin after they left Umno. He left Bersatu in 2020 after Muhyiddin teamed up with MPs of Umno and other parties to form a new government.
In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, Mahathir said the Bersatu members supported Muhyiddin because he could offer them positions. Muhyiddin, who is Bersatu president, also heads the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition.
“The broker invited me to join Bersatu, but I also want them to leave Bersatu and join us,” he said. He told them Bersatu had no future and would be defeated at the next general election. It would be difficult for Bersatu to form a new government “and of course, Muhyiddin will not be PM”.
Given the political reality, he said the Bersatu leaders should join Pejuang, but he had not been successful in getting the Bersatu leaders to switch.
“I told them in a situation where Bersatu will lose in the general election, come back to us” but the reply was that “he would ‘jump’ if we could give him a salary of RM70,000 a month”, Mahathir said.
In the interview, Mahathir predicted that the next general election would not resolve the current political instability. Too many parties would contest, without any party gaining a clear victory to form a strong government.
“We will see a lot of parties contesting. All small parties. There is no dominant party. Each will get small (victories) (which) are not enough. Some get 30, 50, 15 (parliamentary seats), each not dominant. So, when it is not dominant, the one who gets the most (seats) will have the right to form a minority government,” he said.
He said a minority government would be unstable as it would gain the support of other parties by offering various rewards. “If any one party pulls out, the government will fall. That is what will happen in GE15,” said Mahathir. – FMT