Four Bersatu leaders stage walkout at supreme council meeting

Four Bersatu leaders who are seen to be aligned to the disputed party chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad have staged a walkout at the Bersatu supreme council meeting last night.

They said they are unhappy with the discussions in the meeting that was chaired by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.

This is because any decision made at the meeting would not be valid, claimed Bersatu Youth information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamuddin (above), who is among the four.

“The four of us walked out in protest. There are two things that we cannot accept. First, they want to formalise Mahathir’s sacking.

“Second, they want to formalise the cooperation with Perikatan Nasional, meaning it was not formal before this. That means the provision they used to sack Mahathir is not applicable.

“We all stated our views that this is not in accordance with the party constitution and we cannot be a part of a meeting that determines whether we would officially sack Mahathir and establish PN, whereas Bersatu is founded by its grassroots,” he said.

Muhyiddin Yassin

Ulya added that Article 12 of the Bersatu constitution also states that all policy decisions have to go through a general meeting.

“All supreme council members are ‘caretakers’ because when they submitted their nomination forms (for the upcoming party election), they are dissolved.

“All central committees are dissolved. What remains are ‘caretakers’ like a ‘caretaker government’ and cannot make policy decisions.

“The election has become a question mark because it is closely linked to Covid-19. We heed the prime minister’s advice to focus on tackling Covid-19,” he said.

However, Ulya denied that the group represents Mahathir.

Earlier, Ulya and three other Bersatu supreme council members left the meeting last night after it had gone on for nearly two hours.

The three others are Abu Bakar Yahya, Akhramsyah Sanusi and Tariq Ismail.

However, Perak Bersatu chief Ahmad Faizal Azumu later told reporters that the four had left the meeting early because they may have other matters to attend to.

“The meeting went well, Alhamdulillah. Everyone supported the prime minister and president. The atmosphere at the meeting was good. Those who left may have something to attend to,” he said as he left the meeting venue at the University of Malaya Alumni clubhouse, Kuala Lumpur.

To a question, Faizal said the matter of cooperating with Umno was not discussed.

The meeting last night was held just a week after Bersatu nullified the memberships of Mahathir and four others, namely Mukhriz Mahathir, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Amiruddin Hamzah, and Maszlee Malik.

The five were accused of sitting in the opposition bloc during the parliamentary sitting on May 18.

Meanwhile, Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainuddin told reporters that the decisions made at last night’s meeting will be informed to the media today.

When asked about his termination on Tuesday, Akhramsyah said the party has rescinded the termination letter. 

However, he did not elaborate on the matter.

Yesterday, it was reported that Muhyiddin sacked three Bersatu leaders aligned with Mahathir with no reasons being given, including Akhramsyah.

The termination letters were dated June 2 and were issued in Muhyiddin’s capacity as president and acting chairperson. - Mkini