Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took to social media today to upload his motion of no confidence against the prime minister, which he had wanted to table during the July sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.
While also expressing his unhappiness at how his motion had been postponed twice, he reiterated his account of what led to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government during the political impasse in late February.
In his posting, which was also posted on his blog chedet.cc, the former prime minister said the government had delegated the motion to be tabled at the end of the Dewan Rakyat sitting, and this had led to it not being tabled.
“The government motions were always prioritised until there was no time for my motion to be debated. In this way, there will never be a time when my motion will be discussed in the Dewan.
“Since I may not have the chance to table my motion in Parliament, therefore, I am forced to publish this motion in my blog for public viewing,” he said in his posting. He attached the motion, which contained 35 points.
However, the Langkawi MP did not mention about the country’s political crisis in late February this year, which was marked by his resignation as prime minister.
Mahathir also did not mention about subsequent events in the political impasse which led to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s involvement, and the king’s decision to appoint Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister.
In explaining his version of events that led to the political impasse, Mahathir said he had set up Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) with the main reason of toppling the previous government that had been led by Najib Razak.
He repeated that Muhyiddin believed the Malays would be threatened if DAP remained in government.
Mahathir said Muhyiddin, who was the home minister under Harapan, could have deregistered the DAP if it was genuinely a threat.
He reiterated his opposition to Muhyiddin’s new coalition which includes Umno.
“I cannot accept this because (former prime minister and Umno president) Najib Abdul Razak and Umno who had ruined the country would be part of the new government.”
Mahathir said he would only accept certain Umno leaders who must first quit their party but Muhyiddin was willing to accept Umno as a whole.
He added that, at the time, he had asked for the new coalition plan to be postponed but to no avail.
Mahathir then accused Muhyiddin of abusing his power as prime minister by offering gratuity to anyone who will support him. He also said Muhyiddin enticed the Opposition by inventing new ministerial positions to appease them and their followers.
“Those who refused to support him were stripped of their position and membership and this went as low as the divisional level,” claimed Mahathir.
“This is against party law as they did nothing wrong by not supporting Muhyiddin.”
Apart from that, Mahathir said PH had tried to clean up government agencies that were rife with mismanagement and corruption.
However, when Muhyiddin took over, he removed all qualified non-politically affiliated professionals and placed politicians in those same positions, thus returning to the way things were when Najib was in power.
He said Muhyiddin’s appointment as prime minister, without going through the general election, is a violation of the Federal Constitution.
He said eventually voters will lose faith in the system as they cannot elect the person they want.
“What’s the use of a general election if the people you don’t want in office can take over the government with lies?
“This is the main reason I want to put in my motion of no confidence against the Tan Sri from Pagoh as prime minister. His power grab is depriving the people of their rights,” Dr Mahathir said.