Accused of insulting Rulers, Najib clarifies Bersatu the one who asked Umno, PAS to form Perikatan govt

 

Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court October 13, 2020. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has clarified that it was Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia that had asked Umno and PAS to come together and form the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, rather than the Conference of Rulers.

In a Facebook post, he said there are certain parties who took issue with his previous statement and have accused him of insulting the Malay Rulers by insinuating that they had requested for the formation of the government instead.

“What I wrote earlier was what happened when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as prime minister on February 24, 2020. In the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the power to consider forming a new government or dissolving Parliament in the event the prime minister resigns,” he wrote.

In an earlier post, Najib had reiterated that Umno had wanted for a snap general election following the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government.

However, he said Umno was asked to join the formation of the PN government after the Conference of Rulers disagreed with holding the election. He had then not stated which party had requested for Umno to join the pact.

In his update, Najib said the Agong had brought the “extraordinary predicament” following Dr Mahathir’s resignation to the Conference to be discussed among the Malay Rulers.

“It is understood the meeting will discuss the nation’s latest political developments, including the possibility among the Rulers and especially the Agong, of whether a new government will be formed, as well as the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat,” he said, quoting from a February 27 news article.

The Pekan MP added the resulting decision by the Conference was to not dissolve Parliament and hold elections, but instead to hand over the decision of appointing a new Prime Minister to the Agong.

“Thus, His Majesty decreed that the heads of all political parties should come forward to prove majority support for whichever MP, who would then become prime minister.

“Subsequently, Umno and PAS were asked by Bersatu to form the new government under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, which was later named Perikatan Nasional,” he said.

Najid had today backed Umno’s decision to consider retracting its support for Perikatan Nasional, saying the decision has the support of the party’s grassroots.

In a lengthy Facebook post justifying the decision, the former Umno president said the party and the Barisan Nasional pact it is leading have increasingly been made a scapegoat for the apparent failures of the government. - malaymail