A file picture of Muhyiddin (left) and Guan Eng taken on Feb 1, 2019, when Bersatu was still part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
PETALING JAYA: Top DAP leaders negotiated the proposal for the seven cross-party reforms with Perikatan Nasional.
A source claimed that the DAP leadership was keen to support a partisan vote before Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the offer on Friday (Aug 13).
The source said the Prime Minister made the announcement publicly to show his sincerity as it had been negotiated with the Opposition – mainly DAP – which were agreeable to the seven offers.
"Muhyiddin wanted to see if he could get more Opposition votes besides the DAP bloc when he made the live announcement," he claimed.
"He had assigned a few ministers earlier to find out what the Opposition wanted in exchange for them to give a bipartisan vote during the vote of confidence slated for Sept 7 in Parliament," added the source.
The source claimed that Muhyiddin was aware he did not have a strong majority and needed to reach out to the Opposition for a bipartisan vote if he wanted to remain as prime minister.
The source claimed attempts were made to reach out to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but they did not seem keen to negotiate.
"DAP leaders were the most willing to sit down for a discussion. Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz was chosen to deal with DAP as he had experience talking to the Opposition before Budget 2021 was passed," he said.
The source said there were multiple meetings between Tengku Zafrul and DAP leaders, adding that Perikatan parties were not keen on extending the olive branch to the Opposition.
He added that Perikatan was able to offer the Opposition what they sought in the spirit of keeping the current government together for a while longer to oversee the implementation of the vaccination programme and rebuild the economy.
The source said that Muhyiddin had to convince parties such as Gabungan Parti Sarawak, MCA and PAS that they had to be receptive to the idea of working together with DAP.
He said Perikatan first reached out to the top Opposition leaders, including DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
"A team of four top DAP leaders were chosen by Lim to handle discussions with Perikatan," claimed the source.
"The team of four – which included Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, Damansara MP Tony Pua and two other MPs – suggested reforms such as limiting the terms of the prime minister, anti-hopping laws and more Opposition representation in parliament select committees as these were not made when Pakatan Harapan was in power," he added.
The source said Perikatan parties agreed that the reforms should be accepted if they were good for the rakyat and would buy time for the Perikatan government to implement the programmes for the people.
"Unfortunately, now that Muhyiddin has announced them, they are saying that these reforms are what they want, but they will not accept it because he is asking for their support to stay on as the prime minister," claimed the source. - Star
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