Mat Sabu: As Harapan bickers over leader, Muhyiddin strengthens roots

 

Amanah president Mohamad Sabu has reminded Pakatan Harapan leaders to avoid infighting on the issue of the coalition's chief.

He said while Harapan leaders bicker on their choice of who to appoint as their head, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin continues to strengthen his roots in Putrajaya.

The former defence minister better known as Mat Sabu said Harapan leaders must remember to not repeat their enemy's mistake - to be in a divided state which led to defeat.

"The seeds of division and imbalance that we see in returning the people's mandate, on the issue of national leadership, is a lesson to be learnt.

"Do not bicker among us on who will be the leader, while Muhyiddin continues to strengthen his roots there (in Putrajaya)," Mohamad said in his presidential address at Amanah's annual convention today. 

On Dec 17, Mohamad together with DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, issued a joint statement on the opposition's future move after it failed to prevent Budget 2021 from being passed in Parliament.

Following the statement, a Harapan presidential council meeting scheduled to be held on the same day, was cancelled.

In his speech, Mohamad noted that the culture of discussion, transparency and sharing within Harapan has been negatively affected by recent developments.

"Harapan has a commitment to overcome any problem related to leadership, policy or programme, guided by discussions and an open consensus at the presidential council level.

"This openness and sharing had led to the highest level of trust among Harapan leaders since the beginning.

"It has to be admitted that this culture and tradition have been affected lately," he added. 

Mohamad and Lim in their joint statement had reminded Harapan MPs to not rely on government MPs to help return their mandate won in the last general election.

Instead, they urged Harapan to identify more similarities among opposition parties to build wider cooperation against Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Certain parties had viewed the statement as a possible attempt to return former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Warisan president Shafie Apdal back into Harapan.

Mahathir is now leading his yet to be registered Pejuang party while Shafie had previously declared Warisan's intention to contest beyond Sabah in the next 15th general election.

Meanwhile, Mohamad said Amanah did not deny the fact that Harapan's success to topple BN was due to the influence of Mahathir and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

At a press conference later, Mohamad denied that Harapan's top leaders were no longer in communication with Mahathir.

He also said Harapan leaders at its meetings had often discussed the issue of taking over the government via support from MPs or to face the polls.  - Mkini