Mei 30, 2020 22:14 MYT
Zahid, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, revealed that the former prime minister was aware of the decision of the Bersatu leadership to exit the coalition. - Filepic
KUALA LUMPUR: The internal crisis of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) enters another new episode with the disclosure of Muhammad Zahid Md Arip who is a former political secretary to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In a recorded video obtained by Astro AWANI, Zahid, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, revealed that the former prime minister was aware of the decision of the Bersatu leadership to exit the coalition.
“I can confirm what was said by Datuk Seri Hamzah (Zainuddin - Bersatu Secretary General) is spot on, true and nothing but the truth. Because I worked with him to achieve Tun's (Dr Mahathir's) ambition.
"Not only that, I was involved in arranging for some Malay political leaders to meet Tun Mahathir, two, three times. Not at the office, but at Mahathir's house.
"In every meeting, they (the Malay leaders) lasted more than an hour. If one meeting is regarded as a courtesy call to him, but if it happened two or three times, there must be a specific discussion to realise Tun's ambition," claimed Zahid.
He added that the political move that was being made was aimed to realise the ambition of the Langkawi MP.
"Not only did he want to block DAP, Tun did not want Anwar Ibrahim to replace him as the 8th prime minister of Malaysia.
"I asked Tun whether he wanted Anwar or not, Tun shook his head. I said that if this is so, then make a certain political move, work hard but do not relate his name.
"We were working towards that. Alhamdulilah, today we are out of Pakatan Harapan and Anwar is not Prime Minister, DAP too is not in the government," Zahid said.
Commenting on the allegation that the decision to withdraw from the PH coalition was made by Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Zahid said the matter had before that been discussed in the Supreme Council (MPT) meeting, also known to Dr Mahathir.
"How can a decision as big as this be made by Tan Sri Muhyiddin alone.
“As Datuk Seri Hamzah disclosed yesterday, before a Supreme Council meeting had convened, a meeting was held at Tun Dr Mahathir's house to discuss leaving Pakatan Harapan.
"This is in Tun's knowledge and discussed at length in the Supreme Council. We have already made the decision as in the voice clip (that went viral), so everyone can listen. Not true, this was not Tan Sri Muhyiddin's decision alone," Zahid said.
Commenting further, he said the discussion at the meeting was only about Bersatu's decision to exit PH and did not touch on the establishment of a unity government.
"This was the decision of the Supreme Council. What was not decided in the Supreme Leadership Council was Tun Dr Mahathir's desire to establish a unity government after he resigns as Prime Minister.
"The matter was never discussed at all in the Supreme Leadership Council meeting. To get out of Pakatan Harapan, we discussed at length and made a decision in the MPT," Zahid said.
On Friday, Hamzah in a press conference claimed that he had been instructed by the former Prime Minister to weaken the people's confidence in the DAP, which is also a Bersatu ally in the PH coalition.
Bersatu's internal crisis became a national focus when Dr Mahathir's membership in the party he founded was nullified on Thursday.
According to Hamzah, this was because Dr Mahathir had violated the party constitution.
Apart from Dr Mahathir who is also Bersatu chairman, four others who have had their Bersatu membership nullified were deputy president, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir; Head of the Bersatu Youth (Armada), Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman; Supreme Council member Dr Maszlee Malik and Kubang Pasu Member of Parliament Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.
