Musa Hitam misinterpreting Umno history, says minister

Multimedia and Communications Minister Datuk Salleh Said Keruak says Tun Musa Hitam is misinterpreting history in his criticism of Umno for imposing restrictions on deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during its upcoming general assembly. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, December 5, 2015.

A minister has accused Tun Musa Hitam of misinterpreting history in his criticism of Umno for not allowing deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to open its wings' assemblies next week.‎

Multimedia and Communications Minister Datuk Salleh Said Keruak said while it was true Musa was not gagged at the assembly during his time as deputy president, this was only because ‎then-president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad feared a backlash.

“The impression Musa is trying to create is that Dr Mahathir is more democratic than Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Najib Razak,” wrote Salleh on his blog.‎

“That is a misinterpretation of events. It is not that Tun Dr Mahathir did not want to silence Tun Musa.

“It is that Tun Dr Mahathir was worried of silencing him because Tun Musa and his Team B had the support of 50% of Umno and if Tun Dr Mahathir had tried to silence him this would have backfired and would worked in Tun Musa’s favour and would have helped him gain more support.”

In an interview with The Malaysian Insider, Musa‎ said the restrictions Umno imposed on Muhyiddin for its general assembly were “unheard of”.

Musa said despite his own feud with Dr Mahathir in the late 1980s, he was allowed to officiate at wings' meetings, join the debates, and give the winding-up speech.

MORE TO COME

- TMI