Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) is in confusion mode with its leaders seeming to have forgotten what the party stands for.
The fear is if things are left as is, the party might just self-destruct in the next few months.
Leaders of rival factions within the party have been giving contradictory statements not only against each other but they seem to have “forgotten” the events that led to party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stepping down as prime minister.
An unstable Bersatu will lead to the downfall of the unregistered Perikatan Nasional (PN) government comprising Bersatu, Barisan Nasional (BN), PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) as the backbone of PN is Bersatu.
Now Bersatu rivalry has put the party into a state of confusion about whether they really left Pakatan Harapan (PH) or not.
To make matters worse, party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has submitted a motion of no confidence vote against his president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister while Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal submitted a motion for vote of confidence for Dr Mahathir to be prime minister.
In short, the political drama now involves leaders of the party while Bersatu’s partners in PN watch. Everybody is wondering when this whole episode will end or if the government will collapse paving the way for a general election.
Dr Mahathir’s faction talks about the party as if it has never left PH while Muhyiddin’s faction issues warnings that the party will take action against those wanting to return to PH.
Interestingly, it is Muhyiddin’s faction that now controls the party as the secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin is pro-Muhyiddin but they have not made any move to show their seriousness in putting a stop to the dangerous situation the party is in.
It started with party deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir saying the party should return to PH which was supported by the party youth chief Syed Saddique Abdul Rahman.
Then the party information chief Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said the party had no intention of rejoining PH and warned members who disobey (the party’s decisions) will immediately be sacked.
His statement followed comments by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu which he said gave the impression that Bersatu is interested to rejoin the coalition.
Following that, former party secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahya rebutted Radzi, saying that the party supreme council unanimously rejected Dr Mahathir’s resignation as chairman and backed him to remain as the prime minister during the February crisis.
He added the supreme council also never formally decided to leave PH.
“As such, the statement that the Bersatu supreme council decided to withdraw the party from PH is inaccurate and completely wrong,” he added.
So, the party is now truly confused, and its leaders are a confused lot who just do not know how to handle to situation.
Most important is they do not know how to deal with Dr Mahathir who won the party chairman post uncontested while Muhyiddin is being challenged by Dr Mahathir’s son Mukhriz who is the present deputy president.
It is common knowledge that Muhkriz would probably lose the contest for president given Muhyiddin’s current performance as prime minister has earned him credibility even though his party chairman does not seem to agree. – MMO