Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin this morning dodged questions regarding opposition parties supporting Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad to serve a full term as prime minister.
Surrounded by members of the media at a Prisons Department event in Kajang, Muhyiddin spent some four minutes to answer questions regarding the department's new initiative aimed at rehabilitating convicts through internship training with private companies.
However, as soon as he was posed a question on PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's remarks that the opposition party and its new-ally Umno would work to keep Mahathir as the prime minister for the full term, Muhyiddin only gave a wide smile to the reporter.
"I want to only talk about the prison (programme)," he said during the door-stop interview, before heading towards his car.
On July 27, it was reported that Hadi said PAS and Umno would give their support to Mahathir.
Hadi also said Mahathir's Malay-Muslim party Bersatu must be defended because other multi-racial parties in Harapan did not have the "characteristics of Islamic leadership".
Since Hadi had made the statement, which was published through PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily, only PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali had commented on the issue, saying that he "welcomed" the support for Mahathir.
During the inaugural Pakatan Harapan leadership convention in January 2018, top coalition leaders had signed an agreement for Mahathir to hand over the premiership to PKR president Anwar without stating a time frame.
Since winning the general election last year, he has been waffling on the transition date, though he repeatedly stated that he would hand over the reins to Anwar.
At the same time, Mahathir has been shoring up the number of MPs in his party Bersatu by accepting defectors from Umno.
He has also accepted a written commitment from PAS, who pledged to have their MPs support the incumbent prime minister should there be a move within Harapan to oust him.
More private companies should join by Prisons Dept's initiative
Meanwhile, during the event, Muhyiddin, who is also the Home Minister, launched the department's Corporate Smart Internship (CSI) programme and urged for more companies to join the initiative.
He said that since it kickstarted in 2016, the programme had seen 2,928 parolees benefiting from internships with 80 private companies nationwide.
According to him, the number of companies that joined the initiative was still relatively low, probably because many in the private sector were unaware of the incentives they would get from participating in the programme.
"I think most of them do not know that there are incentives offered by the government for those who assist in such programmes.
"That is why today we have this event, to increase awareness to those in the corporate sector to participate.
"I believe that the more they participate, it is even better for them. Because these companies need human resources, and the workers involved are inmates who are trained. They are not simply cheap labour, but when trained, they can benefit the companies," Muhyiddin told the press.
It is learned that among the incentives offered by the government was through tax-exemption for participating companies.
Muhyiddin also denied that the programme meant using parolees as cheap or forced labour, as the inmates would be paid according to the existing rules and regulations.
He also stressed that such a programme should be widened in its implementation as it improves the correctional programme to better rehabilitate convicts, besides helping to reduce congestion at prisons nationwide. - Mkini
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