Shahruddin says ready to resign as deputy minister to save Bersatu

Deputy Works Minister Shahruddin Md Salleh has reportedly said he is ready to quit the Perikatan Nasional government to save Bersatu.

According to a statement attributed to the Sri Gading MP, his love for Bersatu was far greater than his love for its leaders, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, who are in a political tussle that has seen Bersatu split into two.

"I want to see Bersatu being a strong and powerful party. My love for Bersatu is much more than my love for Tun (Mahathir) and Muhyiddin. I do not wish to see Bersatu weakened and sidelined while its original members who really (support the party) are cast aside.

"If I have to resign from my position as the deputy works minister then I would do that for the sake of strengthening Bersatu. Then I can use my time to fully focus on the party," Shahruddin (above) said.

For the record, Shahruddin's statement was posted by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Bersatu Armada on their Facebook pages earlier today. Malaysiakini is contacting Shahruddin for confirmation and response.

Shahruddin was referring to the ongoing troubles in Bersatu which saw both factions denying the legitimacy of each other's leadership of the party.

Muhyiddin's camp has attempted to delegitimise Mahathir's leadership. It nullified the memberships of the latter and four other Bersatu MPs for sitting with the opposition during May 18 Parliament sitting.

Mahathir, meanwhile, had rejected Muhyiddin's power to appoint a new secretary-general and to deny that he (Mahathir) is no longer the party chairperson.

Shahruddin's statement came four days after he was rumoured to be leaving the PN government together with another Bersatu cabinet member. The Friday presser during which they were purportedly going to announce their resignations, however, was cancelled.

The politician, who was Bersatu's pro-tem secretary-general, also expressed his disappointment with what has happened to the party which he claimed has led to some members wanting to quit it altogether.

"As the party's first secretary-general, I know all the division chiefs as well as the women and youth wing. I want to call on all members at the grassroots to not fight each other, an act which will only weaken Bersatu.

"There are those who had been disheartened by all that has happened and even wanting to leave Bersatu. Please, do not do that. Please, bersatulah (unite).

"If I have to leave my friends in PN and return to Pakatan Harapan with a guarantee that Bersatu will be strong and kicking, I am ready to do that too," Shahruddin said.

'PN is not a coalition of parties'

Going further into the rift between Muhyiddin and Mahathir, Shahruddin also questioned the letter by Bersatu organising secretary Suhaimi Yahya that disqualifies Mahathir's membership.

This was one of the reasons behind his visit to Mahathir at Bersatu headquarters on Friday, as a "reaction to the letter by the organising secretary to Tun".

"The letter said that Mahathir has lost his membership automatically, disqualified himself. (It was claimed that) Bersatu constitution has been translated that way, allegedly by legal experts. When he sat with the opposition in the Dewan Rakyat last month, then he was considered as having joined the opposition.

"I asked him, was it true that he has joined the opposition party? He denied it. He said he would never do that," he said.

According to the statement, Shahruddin then questioned himself about PN, whether it was registered as a legal entity.

However, he said that as far as he remembers, only Harapan is a legitimate body that was registered with the Registrar of Societies while PN is only an unofficial name for a body that rallies MPs who agreed to support Muhyiddin as prime minister.

"PN is not a coalition of parties. More so, I have not seen constitution of PN being studied or debated thoroughly in (Bersatu) special general meeting or at least in the supreme council where we make a decision to agree to join PN?" - Mkini