BACKSTAB & TREACHERY IN THE BEST TRADITION OF MALAY POLITICS? MAHATHIR LOYALISTS EXPOSE AUDIO OF MUHYIDDIN TELLING HIS OWN SUPPORTERS TO GIVE DR M A WEEK TO DECIDE ON EXITING PAKATAN – BUT WHAT HAPPENED IN BETWEEN & TRIGGERED THE WEEKEND COUP IS ANYONE’S GUESS – DID MUHYIDDIN INFLUENCED BY AZMIN DECIDE TO GRAB THE PM’S POST FOR HIMSELF – OR DID MAHATHIR GIVE HIM THE TACIT NOD?

A purported audio recording of Bersatu’s final supreme council meeting before it exited Pakatan Harapan has been leaked online.

In the recording, a man whose voice resembles that of Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin’s, is heard telling the council to entrust party chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad with the mandate to decide on whether or not to leave Harapan.

Sources have confirmed with Malaysiakini that the recording, which was leaked on a pro-Mahathir website, is authentic and the news portal understands that it was recorded towards the end of the meeting on Feb 23.

“Maybe we can wait for Tun (Mahathir) to meet with the party presidents. Okay, we wait for one week, for whatever it is, maybe we will be more sober. Today has been a bit emotional.

“We need to think about the biggest question in our (party’s) history, that is (getting) out of Harapan, and moving to the coalition (sic) but we will still be the government, a government led by Bersatu. That is important,” said the man in the recording.

The man added that Bersatu must respect Mahathir’s wisdom and give the latter time.

The audio claims to be proof that Bersatu did not make a final decision on whether to exit Harapan on Feb 23.

This is after Bersatu information chief Radzi Jidin claimed that a decision was made during the meeting and that Mahathir had supported leaving Harapan before changing his mind at the eleventh hour.

On the night of Feb 23, Muhyiddin and other Bersatu leaders had gathered with former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s faction, Umno and PAS at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, in what has been dubbed as the “Sheraton Move”.

This triggered a week-long political crisis after Mahathir resigned as prime minister instead of going along with the Sheraton Move. It ended with Muhyiddin being sworn in as prime minister of a Perikatan Nasional coalition on March 2.

Mahathir has accused Muhyiddin and the latter’s followers of ignoring his wishes to remain in Harapan following a high-pressure Harapan presidential council meeting on Feb 21.

Sources told Malaysiakini that during the Feb 21 meet, Mahathir was pressured to set a date to step down for PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Bersatu retorted with a threat to quit the coalition.

However, in the end, Harapan decided to let Mahathir decide when he would resign as prime minister.

“So I told Muhyiddin, because I had full backing, what was the reason to quit Harapan?

“If there was another reason then wait. If there is another reason I would leave Harapan,” the former prime minister said in a video message on Monday.

Previously, what was known about the Feb 23 meeting was that Mahathir’s political secretary Zahid Mat Arip had riled up the Bersatu supreme council into supporting the move to quit Harapan.

This appeared to be the case since the man in the leaked audio recording had described the meeting as “emotional”.

Besides giving Mahathir the mandate to decide on whether Bersatu should leave Harapan, the recording also revealed that the nonagenarian was planning a cabinet reshuffle.

Mahathir and Muhyiddin are embroiled in open warfare, with the former having submitted a motion of no confidence against the prime minister.

Anticipation is high for a showdown next Monday, when Parliament holds its first sitting since the collapse of the Harapan government.

MKINI