TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, MAHATHIR NOW KNOWS HOW TO SAY: ‘I REMAIN LOYAL WITH MY FRIENDS WHO FOUGHT WITH ME BEFORE GE14’ – YET HOW ARROGANT HE WAS WHEN HE WAS PM7, HOW HE UNDERMINED HIS OWN CABINET, RENEGED ON SUCCESSION PROMISE TO ANWAR

KUALA LUMPUR — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has slammed those who leaked an audio clip of a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Supreme Council meeting alleging he was responsible for taking the party to quit Pakatan Harapan (PH) as having “evil intentions”.

Explaining that the clip has been edited, the former prime minister challenged them instead to publish the full recording of the meeting.

“I remain loyal with my friends who fought with me before the 14th general election,” he said in a brief statement, referring to PH.

“If it were true that I wish to betray the people’s mandate, I could have done it before when Perikatan Nasional named me as their prime minister candidate.”

“Instead, I rejected it. In bad times and good, we are together,” he added.

The clip in which Dr Mahathir was heard attempting to delay his own party’s exit from PH was released yesterday, seemingly timed with a statement from top Bersatu leaders insisting that the party had made the decision in the abovementioned meeting.

The statement also touched on how Bersatu as a party is fully behind the formation of Perikatan Nasional (PN) as a coalition aimed at achieving the goals and objectives set by PN’s memorandum of understanding.

It noted how Bersatu agreed to form an alliance with other parties to form PN for the betterment of the people and country’s political stability, while declaring its undivided support for the PN government led by Bersatu’s president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Yesterday, a letter was also spread online in which the Registrar of Societies affirmed Dr Mahathir’s resignation as chairman and allowing party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as now the acting chairman.

The RoS is under the Home Ministry, whose minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin is newly-appointed by Muhyiddin as Bersatu secretary-general.

After his resignation following Bersatu’s decision in the abovementioned meeting, Dr Mahathir was promptly appointed interim prime minister by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Barisan Nasional and PAS had initially supported Dr Mahathir as prime minister but retracted their support after Dr Mahathir mooted a unity government. They would later back Muhyiddin to form the PN federal government.

MALAY MAIL