'Muhyiddin may be the only founder left if Bersatu proceeds with sackings'

If the Bersatu supreme council moves to sack party chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir, then Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin may be the only founding member left in the party.

Therefore, Bersatu supreme council member Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi said he hoped that speculation of action against the two leaders at a scheduled supreme council meeting tomorrow is untrue.

"I hope the supreme council will discuss how to close ranks and ensure Bersatu plays an important role in the fight against Covid-19.

"I also pray that talk that the intention of the meeting tomorrow is to sack Mahathir and Mukhriz based on the statement that had been made by Bersatu information chief Mohd Radzi Md Jidin is untrue.

"I fear that if the unfortunate happens, Muhyiddin will be the only Bersatu founder left in the party," he said in a statement.

At present, only five out of the seven Bersatu members are still in the party.

They are Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz, Akhramsyah and Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman. Both Akhramsyah and Syed Saddiq are aligned to Mahathir and his son.

The other two founders - Anina Saadudin and Kamarulazman Habibur Rahman - had left the party shortly after the creation.

Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported that the Bersatu supreme council meeting will convene tomorrow but Mahathir and Mukhriz were not invited.

This news portal also reported that a separate meeting was held among the supreme council members aligned to Muhyiddin to set the agenda for tomorrow's meeting which may include a decision on Mahathir and Mukhriz's position.

This comes after Mahathir and Mukhriz publicly criticised Muhyiddin for taking Bersatu out of Harapan and forming a new Perikatan Nasional (PN) government with Umno, PAS, GPS and other minor parties.

Akhramsyah, in his statement, said he was aware of the meeting yesterday but was not invited. However, he is invited to the meeting tomorrow.

He also criticised Radzi, who yesterday maintained that Mahathir was not the Bersatu chairperson and claimed the Langkawi MP was initially on board with the plan to quit Pakatan Harapan and form PN. 

Akhramsyah took issue with Radzi's claim that the decision to quit Harapan was not hasty and was in the planning for months and had sought consent from various levels of the party.

Akhramsyah (photo) said Radzi should not drag other leaders into the conspiracy if he was involved in it.

"As a supreme council member, I strongly deny that there had been major efforts for months at every level of the party for Bersatu to betray Harapan.

"What is the logic then for us to campaign together in the Tanjung Piai and Kimanis by-elections with Harapan?

"I still remembered how the information chief personally praised DAP's efforts in the Tanjung Piai by-election during the supreme council meeting," he said.

Akhramsyah acknowledged that there were plans to defend Mahathir's position as the prime minister at the time but not to the extend of betraying Harapan.

"If it is true that there were leaders who conspired to betray Harapan unprovoked, it is without honour and goes against the party's principles," he said.

Akhramsyah maintained that Mahathir was consistently against leaving Harapan despite facing eight hours of pestering to give in during a series of meetings on Feb 23.

He said after Mahathir refused to give in during the Bersatu supreme council meeting on that day, the party heads that would go on to form PN went to Mahathir's house to convince him that evening, but to no avail.

He added that if Mahathir was on board with the plan, he would not have filed a no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin, who now leads the PN government after Mahathir refused to do so.  - Mkini