Bersatu to sack Dr M this week? Ridiculous, says Akhramsyah

A Bersatu supreme council member today denied rumours that a meeting will be held this week with an agenda to sack party chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi dismissed the speculation as a "ridiculous one" given the current circumstances where party president and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is under quarantine after being in close contact with a Covid-19 patient.

"First of all, only the chairperson which is Mahathir can call up a supreme council meeting, and I don't think he is the kind of person who would do it when party president Muhyiddin is placed under quarantine.

"And secondly, on the other hand, how can Muhyiddin request for a meeting now when he himself is under quarantine? This rumour itself is illogical," he told Malaysiakini when contacted this afternoon.

Akhramsyah was responding to a news report which speculated that Muhyiddin, who is no longer aligned with Mahathir albeit being in the same party, is calling for Bersatu supreme council to convene in coming days where he purportedly would attempt to remove Mahathir.

Muhyiddin is currently undergoing a 14-day quarantine that began on May 22 after he attended a meeting with a Covid-19 patient two days earlier. 

The premier has been tested negative for the virus but he is required to undergo quarantine under Section 15 of the Prevention of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

According to Akhramsyah (photo), the supreme council members must be notified in advance if a meeting is being called, where its agenda would also be provided prior so that they can prepare for it.

However, there was no such invitation so far, he said, adding that the last invitation he received was for May 11 meeting which had been postponed after news reports emerged that it could be a plot to sideline Mahathir and Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir. 

"And I don't think Muhyiddin would call for a video conference meeting for the supreme council to remove Mahathir. That would be akin to an act of divorcing via SMS," he quipped.

Meanwhile, Akhramsyah also lambasted a fellow supreme council member for urging the party to sack its MPs who sat with the opposition in Parliament when it convened on May 18.

He described what Wan Saiful Wan Jan said in a statement last week as irresponsible and only paints a negative image on Bersatu.

"I suggest that he should be more constructive because what he said did not even make sense," said Akhramsyah.

Wan Saiful, who is a former National Higher Education Fund Corporation chairperson, had last week said Bersatu MPs who sat with the opposition during the Dewan Rakyat sitting on May 18 should automatically lose their membership.

This came as Mahathir appeared on the Pakatan Harapan-led opposition bench along with four other Bersatu MPs aligned to him during the first Dewan Rakyat session for this year.  - Mkini