Judge Nazri by his past statements, says Najib

 

Najib Razak said the people should read up what Nazri Aziz had said in the past about the Perikatan Nasional government.

PETALING JAYA: Former Umno president Najib Razak, responding to a tirade by party colleague Nazri Aziz over the party’s stance on the Perikatan Nasional-led government, said the public should judge Nazri by his statements made after the previous general election.

Najib said that Nazri had declared in January that he had retracted support for the PN government and claimed that Muhyiddin Yassin had lost majority support.

However, last year, Nazri was reported to have said that he had never been supportive of PN and that he had “always been a supporter of Muafakat Nasional”, the alliance forged between Umno and PAS to which Bersatu was subsequently invited to join.

He said that in September 2018, Nazri had publicly backed PKR president Anwar Ibrahim who was then standing for election in Port Dickson, and had also said he would campaign for Anwar.

A year later, he reaffirmed his support for Anwar but also said he would remain in Umno.

Najib noted that Nazri had said in March 2019 that PAS and Umno should work together and had apologised for objecting to PAS previously.

The year before, Najib said, Nazri stated that he would rather Umno work with PKR and DAP instead of PAS.

“Read his past statements and judge Nazri for yourself,” Najib told FMT when asked to respond to a report in which Nazri had branded as liars several Umno MPs who he accused of having reneged on their promise to support PN.

Najib had previously questioned a claim that 40 Barisan Nasional MPs backed PN.

Nazri was quoted by The Vibes as saying: “Please send my message to Najib. The 40 MPs who met that day, we discussed and agreed that we don’t mind backing PN, even if we don’t support Muhyiddin.”

The portal quoted Nazri as using the words “you bloody liars” and referring to Najib as “that b******”, saying Najib had spoken at the meeting, as did Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan, who is Umno secretary-general.

“Now, he (Najib) turned around and is poking fun, saying only 31 MPs are backing PN. That’s because he lied,” Nazri was quoted as saying.

Former international trade and industry minister Rafidah Aziz said the infighting was to be expected, adding that Nazri’s strong language indicated he had taken a “scorched earth” approach.

“They are baring their true selves to the public, who should take note and remember. As the Malay proverb goes, ‘biar putih tulang, jangan putih mata’,” she told FMT.

Umno recently retracted support for the PN government and reiterated its call for Muhyiddin to step down after supposedly having lost the majority.

Muhyiddin however insists he still commands the support of the Dewan Rakyat. - FMT