Umno has revealed two letters written by its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, dated July 30 and Aug 4, respectively.
In the first letter, Zahid informed the King that he wished to present several statutory declarations (SDs) from Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs who had decided to withdraw support for Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister with immediate effect.
He said this was in line with the Umno Supreme Council’s decision on July 7.
In the second letter, Zahid expressed his wish to present additional SDs from more BN MPs, withdrawing its support for the Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government.
“These additional SDs are an extension to my previous letter, which mentioned that more SDs would follow,” he wrote.
He also wrote that a total of 14 MPs had signed SDs to withdraw support for PN and Muhyiddin so far, attaching proof of each signed document.
According to Zahid, none of these MPs have since retracted their SDs to the King and that all SDs were legitimate.
The names of the 14 BN MPs are as follows: Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk), Najib Razak (Pekan), Ahmad Maslan (Pontian), Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (Lenggong), Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (Baling), Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang), Bung Moktar Radin (Kinabatangan), Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang), Mohd Nizar Zakaria (Parit), Ahmad Nazlan Idris (Jerantut), Ramli Mohd Nor (Cameron Highlands), Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis), Noh Omar (Tanjung Karang) and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Gua Musang).
Although Ahmad Zahid had listed 14 names, only 13 copies of signed statutory declarations were uploaded by Umno Online on its website and Facebook page.
There was no signed statutory declaration by Gua Musang MP Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was in the list of 14 names.
However, Ahmad Zahid had in the list added a note below Tengku Razaleigh’s name, stating that the latter had never signed a statutory declaration to support Mahiaddin Md Yasin (Muhyiddin’s actual name) and that he had previously applied to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker to change seatings in the lower house of Parliament.
The dates of the 13 signed statutory declarations ranged from July 29 to August 3.
Bung Moktar’s statutory declaration was the only one dated July 29, while the ones dated July 30 were signed by 11 MPs namely Ahmad Zahid, Najib, Ahmad Maslan, Azalina, Ahmad Jazlan, Mohd Nizar, Ahmad Nazlan, Ramli, Mohamad, Noh.
Two separate statutory declarations dated August 3 were signed by Shamsul Anuar and Abdul Azeez respectively.
Out of the 13 signed statutory declarations addressed to the Agong, 10 of them were identical, where each Barisan Nasional MP identified themselves and their parliamentary constituency and swore that they were retracting their support to “Mahiaddin” as prime minister with immediate effect, in line with Umno’s supreme council decision on July 7.
The two July 30 statutory declarations by Kimanis MP Mohamad and Tanjung Karang MP Noh, however, contained an additional line to say that they still supported the PN government in line with the party’s decision.
Azalina’s July 30 statutory declaration also carried the additional line to say she still supported the PN government in line with the party’s decision, and further carried the line that this was subject to her stepping down as the Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker under the Dewan Rakyat’s standing order six.