‘CANNOT BE TRUSTED’ MAHATHIR BACK TO HIS BAD WAYS ALREADY – LOYALISTS SHOW BAD FAITH AGAINST ANWAR WITH ‘LEAKED AUDIO’ PURPORTEDLY OF MUHYIDDIN TELLING BERSATU AGONG PREFERS DR M TO BE PM INSTEAD OF ANWAR: TRUE OR NOT, KING HAS RIGHT TO HIS PREFERNCE – BUT ULTIMATELY PAKATAN HAS RIGHT TO THEIR OWN PM PICK IN LINE WITH PROMISE TO VOTERS IN GE14

A Facebook page aligned with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has leaked yet another audio recording that purportedly came from a Bersatu supreme council meeting on Feb 23.

This time, a voice resembling that of Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin is heard telling a group of people that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was in favour of retaining Mahathir as prime minister even in the event of a change of government.

The voice proposed a scenario whereby Mahathir would not resign but become the leader of a Perikatan Nasional-led government and that he (the voice) has already told Mahathir that he has consulted a former chief justice who advised that a resignation won’t be necessary.

“So, in ‘Situation A’ that is the status quo Mahathir as prime minister and even if we move to ‘Situation B’, Mahathir won’t have to resign and remains as prime minister.

“(He is) reimposing position but moving from Pakatan Harapan to Perikatan Nasional. Supposedly, that is. Perhaps it did not work out. That’s the situation,” the voice said in the audio clip posted last night.

The voice also supposedly claimed that the Agong had been informed of this plan on several occasions.

“The Agong’s sentiments, quote, unquote, he prefers this, what we are saying.

“He doesn’t get along (tak kena) with (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim. He spoke frankly. Not that he wants to ‘sabotage’ him but he doesn’t like Anwar, if that is possible,” the voice said.

He also said a delegation of six people including himself was supposed to have an audience with the king at 6pm that day.

The five others were purported to be former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, Warisan president Shafie Apdal, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Gabungan Parti Sarawak chairperson Abang Johari Tun Openg, and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

For the record, Warisan ultimately took sides with Harapan for the Sheraton Move that took place in late February.

The voice said the delegation would attempt to show the Agong that Mahathir has the support of 133 MPs to form a new government through statutory declarations (SDs).

“The SDs mainly state support for Mahathir and whatever. So Mahathir can form A or B if he says so. Whatever.

“It’s open-ended. We don’t say we support Anwar or whoever else. I think that is not relevant, Anwar is not on my book,” the voice said.

The audience before the Agong did not materialise but was postponed to the next day instead, the voice said.

Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify the contents of the audio recording.

However, when contacted last night, a Bersatu leader told this news portal that the recording was authentic.

The source said the recording was in the early part of the Feb 23 meeting which started with Mahathir explaining that he disagrees with the proposal to take Bersatu out of the Harapan coalition.

The recording showed Muhyiddin’s attempts to persuade the supreme council to disagree with Mahathir’s stance, the source said.

Malaysiakini has contacted Muhyiddin’s office, Bersatu supreme council members and the palace on the audio clip and is waiting for their response.

Previously, through a series of leaked audio clips, the pro-Mahathir Facebook page had purported that Mahathir, during the Feb 23 meeting, had made an impassioned plea to the supreme council not to pressure him to renege on his promise to step down as prime minister this year,

It also purported that Muhyiddin proposed enticing Umno MPs to defect to Bersatu by using ministerial and GLC posts as lures. Towards the end of the meeting, it was purported that Muhyiddin told the council to entrust Mahathir with deciding on whether to leave Harapan.

For the record, after the meeting, PN leaders – plus Shafie – had met Mahathir (above) at his home that afternoon to make another attempt to convince Mahathir to leave Harapan but to no avail.

Muhyiddin, Azmin, and other leaders from Bersatu, Umno, and PAS then gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya that night, triggering what is now known as the Sheraton Move that led to the collapse of the Harapan-led government.

When Mahathir supposedly realised what had happened the next morning, he resigned as prime minister and Bersatu chairperson but was retained as acting prime minister by the king.

In his royal address in Parliament on May 18, the Agong said he had tried to convince Mahathir not to resign, but eventually accepted the resignation with sadness.

Muhyiddin, meanwhile, declared Bersatu’s exit from Harapan on the afternoon of Feb 24, and later successfully convinced Mahathir to rescind his resignation as party chairperson.

The resignation as Bersatu chairperson is now a point of contention, as Muhyiddin’s faction in Bersatu now claims the supreme council has no power to reject Mahathir’s resignation. Muhyiddin had assumed the position of Bersatu acting chairperson.

This against the backdrop of Bersatu spilt between supporters of Muhyiddin and Mahathir.

Parliament to be closed during recovery MCO but July sitting to proceed

The Dewan Rakyat sitting in July will go on as scheduled, despite the recent announcement that Parliament will be closed to the public and visitors during the recovery movement control order (MCO) period.

In a posting on its official Twitter account yesterday, the Parliament office stated that the chambers would be closed to the public up to Aug 31 in line with the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and Police Act 1967.

When contacted, it clarified to Malaysiakini that the closure did not apply to members of Parliament or for the coming sitting set to begin on July 13.

“The announcement is only directed at visitors and members of the public. Those with official business in Parliament can carry on as usual.

“This announcement is not new and is made in step with changes to the MCO (MCO, conditional MCO and recovery MCO).

“In other words, parliamentarians are not affected and this has no bearing on the July House sitting. The sitting will commence as usual,” the Parliament office said.

This was also confirmed by Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who tweeted his ministry was preparing the Space Bill for the coming session.

“Mosti (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) is preparing the Space Bill to manage Malaysia’s activities in space such as satellite launches.

“The notice (on Parliament closure) is for the public gallery. Not MPs. Parliament will sit,” read his tweet.

Malaysia implemented an almost full lockdown on March 18 with the MCO to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

However, as the number of infected cases in the country declined, the government began to gradually ease regulations, lift restrictions and open businesses, shifting to the conditional MCO in May and now the recovery MCO.

The recovery MCO period began yesterday and is slated to end on Aug 31.

MKINI