Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s letter lobbying for government positions shows how Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is being bullied by his coalition partners, claimed Bersatu supreme council member Abdul Kadir Jasin.
“These are merely the demands that we know about. What about those that we don’t know? […]
“Who is the head of government now? Is it Zahid, (PAS secretary-general) Takiyuddin Hassan, or (former PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali?
“Has Bersatu no shame watching the president being openly bullied by Umno and PAS?
“Or is this the way of Perikatan Nasional? Sacking the professionals and fighting for vacancies like starving people?” he asked in a Facebook post today.
Kadir was referring to a letter where Zahid urged Muhyiddin to consider appointment four Sabah Umno leaders to various government positions.
Zahid, in a letter to Muhyiddin dated April 16, said Sabah Umno “proposed and demanded” four positions for its members, one of them as a deputy minister and another as a senator.
The letter recommended that Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin be made the state Federal Development Department chairman; Kimanis MP Mohamad Alamin, a deputy minister to represent the Sabah Umno chapter; Tuaran division chief Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a senator in Dewan Negara; and Sabah Umno deputy chairman Yakubah Khan, the Labuan Port Authority chairman.
Among the four named for appointment, Bung and Rahman were prominent figures in the Najib Razak administration.
Kinabatangan MP Bung faces trial for corruption over RM2.8 million he is accused of receiving in his former capacity of Felcra chairman in June 2015.
Rahman was a Najib mouthpiece who denied the former prime minister’s role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal. He was a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the urban wellbeing, housing and local government.
Alamin is a first-time MP who defeated Warisan candidate Karim Bujang in the Kimanis by-election in February.
The LPA chair, meanwhile, is up for grabs following the removal of Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Fong Hin earlier this month.
Neither Umno nor Putrajaya has commented on the letter, copies of which have been widely circulated on social media.
Kadir noted that prior to this, PAS was ‘even worse’ in making its demands.
“At first, a PAS minister (Takiyuddin) announced that Perikatan Nasional MMPs who are yet to have any positions would be appointed as office bearers in government-linked companies.
“Before anything else, another PAS minister (Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali) appointed his supporter to the Malaysian Rubber Board,” said Kadir, who was Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s media advisor during the latter’s term as the seventh prime minister.
The cabinet is largely filled by Muhyiddin’s party members although some plum positions have been given to Umno, but none in Sabah Umno.
In recent weeks, the new government has removed many candidates in government agencies and government-linked companies who were appointed by the previous Pakatan Harapan government. Several of their replacements are Umno leaders.