Mahathir met with Azmin, Hadi? Baseless allegation, says Marzuki

Claims that Dr Mahathir Mohamad had met with former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang are baseless allegations meant to cast aspersions on the former prime minister, said Marzuki Yahya.

"The statement which said Mahathir had a meeting with Azmin and Abdul Hadi is untrue and it is a baseless allegation.

"The rumour about these meetings is purposely trying to cast aspersions on Mahathir.

“Mahathir’s stand is clear and should not be belittled by any party because he wants the rakyat’s mandate to be returned as soon as possible as he does not want to see (prime minister) Muhyiddin Yassin’s government continue to ruin the country and damage the lives of the rakyat,” said Marzuki, who referred to himself as the Bersatu secretary-general in his statement.

He was responding to a PKR leader who, while revealing PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had met with Muhyiddin and Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, had also made the claim that Mahathir had met with Azmin and Abdul Hadi.

Mahathir did have meetings with Azmin and Abdul Hadi but they were prior to the collapse of Harapan which happened at the end of February this year.

Marzuki said Muhyiddin has shown he was “thirsty” for majority support so that he can remain in power until the next general election through several of his actions such as the mass appointments of MPs on his side to lucrative government positions.

He said Mahathir and several other Bersatu MPs remained principled despite their small numbers and they have not betrayed the mandate and trust given to them by the rakyat in the previous general election.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad

“Mahathir stood firm on his position not to work with leaders who have betrayed the rakyat’s mandate as well as leaders who jumped parties simply for power and for their own interest.

“On the contrary, Mahathir continues to fight and remains firm with Pakatan Harapan which was chosen by the rakyat in the 14th general election to lead Malaysia and carry out their agenda as well as their hopes as what the rakyat would want from him as the prime minister,” Marzuki said.

Malaysiakini had previously reported that DAP and Amanah had agreed to back Mahathir for his third stint as prime minister for six months with Anwar as his number two.

The thinking is that Harapan would not have the numbers to secure a firm majority to retake federal power without the 95-year-old politician and those aligned with him.

However, PKR then said they rejected Mahathir as the prime minister candidate in favour of maintaining the “Harapan consensus” to nominate Anwar as prime minister. - Mkini