PETALING JAYA: PPBM has yet to make a decision on whether to accept the 36 leaders who left Umno Sabah on Wednesday.
PPBM’s policy and strategy bureau chairman Rais Hussin said any decision on this will be done after consultation with other Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties and their Sabah ally, Warisan.
He said PPBM has its own perspective and stand in this matter and is currently evaluating the situation.
“When the time comes, we will make an announcement,” he said after the launch of Mohamed Iqbal Rawther’s book titled “Striving For Excellence A Life Fulfilled” at Dewan Sivik here today.
Rais was commenting on the statement by Selangor DAP secretary Ronnie Liu who said if PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad accepted these former Sabah Umno leaders, it would be seen as a betrayal of voters who had elected to remove Umno from the government.
Yesterday, 36 elected representatives, senators and division heads in Sabah announced that they were leaving Umno, effectively crippling the party’s state chapter, established in 1991.
Although the four MPs and nine state assemblymen who left said they were now independents, speculation is rife that their move was in preparation for them to join PPBM, which has yet to start its chapter in Sabah.
When asked if the 36 Umno leaders will be pioneering Sabah PPBM, Rais avoided the query altogether, stating that PPBM is for all Malaysians nationwide.
He said what’s important is that the former Sabah Umno leaders are now giving their support to Mahathir as prime minister and Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal. This will help to strengthen the ruling coalition.
Mahathir had said PH would see how these former Umno leaders behave before deciding on their future.
“If they are supportive and didn’t do anything wrong in the past, we will accept them,” he said last night.
Betrayal of the people’s mandate
Meanwhile, electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 urged both PH and Warisan to reject the 36 Sabah Umno leaders.
Sabah Bersih said in a statement that such action would be a betrayal of the mandate given by the people.
“Should PH or Warisan accept these former Umno lawmakers, then it will mean that they don’t want the country to have an effective democracy and parties to provide checks and balances to the government’s policies and decisions.
“Sabah Bersih believes a re-election is necessary if an elected representative crosses over to another political party.
“This is to give the people another chance to decide the right candidate for the seats.”
The statement said providing an effective opposition was a noble cause. - FMT
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