Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had acted unilaterally in deciding that the party quit Pakatan Harapan (PH), Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
He said Muhyiddin did not go through the party’s normal process of discussion at the Supreme Council level.
“Firstly, the Supreme Council did not adopt a decision to leave PH. As we all heard in a recording, Muhyiddin (Bersatu president) gave me one week to make a decision (whether Bersatu should leave PH).
“However, even before the date, he had already acted like he is not in PH anymore. This goes against the party’s constitution and we also found out that he made a decision without the consent of the Supreme Council.
“It was already announced today that he (Bersatu) is part of Perikatan Nasional (PN). Umno had earlier claimed that there is no such thing as PN but what had happened was Muhyiddin had joined PN even before it was set up and without a decision from the Supreme Council,” said Dr Mahathir, who insisted he was still Bersatu’s chairman.
The former premier said this in a press conference held at Perdana Leadership Council today.
Also present was Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Dr Mahathir as such said Muhyiddin’s decision was flawed and the latter had gone against Bersatu’s constitution without referring to any of the party’s authoritative bodies.
The Langkawi Member of Parliament said it was as if half of Bersatu had been taken over by Muhyiddin and that the party had strayed from its main objective.
“This is a problem, Bersatu was set up specially to fight the kleptocracy government of Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Today, he (Muhyiddin) decided to work with Najib without the consent from the party.
“Once again, he turned his back on the party as if only the president held power.
“Muhyiddin’s way has saddened us because Bersatu was set up to topple Najib’s government.
“But when we achieved victory with PH, Muhyiddin went against the party’s policies and struggles and chose to work with the people we defeated,” said Dr Mahathir.
Asked if Bersatu will take action against Muhyiddin, Dr Mahathir said it was up to the party and the Supreme Council.
Dr Mahathir also expressed disappointment over the “plea bargaining” policy that Malaysia had adopted where he said “criminals could return the money they had stolen to escape punishment.”