Dr M: I am offering myself to 'save Bersatu' from back door gov't

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was offering himself as a candidate for the president of Bersatu in order to save the party.

"I, Mahathir, am the first Bersatu member and founder of the party.

"I offer myself as a candidate for party president to save Bersatu, which now has leaders which are working together with kleptocrats and Umno to form a backdoor government.

"Join our fight to restore our party to the true path," wrote Mahathir on his Facebook page today.

Mahathir submitted his nomination papers through the party’s Selayang division chief, Zulkifli Mohamad. The papers were submitted at around 1.40pm today at the party’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had earlier confirmed that he will also be defending his position as Bersatu president after his nomination papers for the position was submitted today.

Instead of gunning for the position of chairperson, Muhyiddin appears to be avoiding a direct confrontation with Mahathir.

Muhyiddin, who had gone against Mahathir to form a new government in cooperation with Umno, has declared himself as the acting Bersatu chairperson in a bid to wrest control of the party.

This is in order to secure the compliance of Bersatu MPs to support him as the new prime minister.

A party meeting chaired by Muhyiddin had rejected his resignation on the same night and convinced him to stay on the following day, which he agreed. - Mkini