Organising secretary has no power to sack Bersatu leaders – Marzuki

Bersatu organising secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya has no authority to issue termination letters to Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other party leaders, said Penang Bersatu chairperson Marzuki Yahya.

He told Malaysiakini that the Bersatu constitution vests such power in the secretary-general whereas the organising secretary is not even recognised in the constitution.

“The person who issued the letters should be sacked and there is no basis to the letters’ content at all. Mahathir and others are still members,” he said.

He maintained that he is still the party’s secretary-general and matters of membership were under his jurisdiction.

Moreover, he said the termination of members should have been referred to the party’s disciplinary board and supreme council beforehand and this was not done.

For the record, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had declared himself the party’s acting chairperson and later removed Marzuki as secretary-general on March 18.

Mahathir claimed that Marzuki’s removal was invalid and continues to recognise him as secretary-general while Muhyiddin appointed Hamzah Zainudin as secretary-general.

 Marzuki was commenting on the termination letters issued today to Mahathir, his son Mukhriz, Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Bersatu supreme council members Maszlee Malik and Amiruddin Hamzah.

They were sacked for allegedly sitting under the “bloc not supporting the Perikatan Nasional government” during the May 18 parliamentary sitting (above).

Meanwhile, a source close to Mahathir’s office said the sacking was not done in accordance with the party’s convention.

“The party is not following the convention of having the accused to defend themselves in front of the disciplinary board.

“In fact, there was no supreme council meeting to discuss this,” the source said. - Mkini