Former Johor Baru MP Shahrir Samad has fired some caustic words in the direction of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin saying that when the Umno supreme council withdrew its support for Muhyiddin as prime minister yesterday, it reminded him of a similar event after the GE12 in 2008.
"TS Muhyiddin continued to sit in the cabinet after stating that Abdullah (Ahmad) Badawi should resign as PM as soon as possible from the proposed one-year period (following the poor election results in which BN lost its two-thirds majority).
"The Umno supreme council stance should not make Umno ministers feel guilty or ashamed of (continuing to support) for Muhyiddin because after speaking in Singapore and calling for Abdullah to step down immediately, he then continued to sit in the cabinet chosen by Abdullah without any sense of guilt or shame," Shahrir (above) said in a Facebook post this morning.
So Umno ministers should not be ashamed of continuing in Muhyiddin's cabinet, he said, adding that their principles and philosophies should be clear.
"Ismail Sabri (Yaakob) has already been appointed as deputy prime minister. Even if Muhyiddin steps down, there are already deputies who can take over.
"Before this, there were (just) senior ministers. They will quarrel with each other because they do not know who the PM really trusts to help him, but now it is clear.
"Ismail Sabri can be the caretaker PM and the government is not shaken," Shahrir added.
He said that this would thus return the premiership to the party that originally had that right. Despite losing power, Umno remained the largest single party in Parliament after the last general election, although it no longer has that distinction following a string of defections, mainly to Bersatu.
"If Ismail is actually the PM, he should not forget to get the support of the Dewan Rakyat as the late Hussein Onn did on Jan 27, 1976, (12 days after being appointed PM), and also like Abdullah Ahmad on Dec 3, 2003, (three days after his appointment)," Shahrir said in a direct jibe at Muhyiddin's failure to prove his parliamentary majority in a vote since being sworn-in 16 months ago.
He concluded by asking if Muhyiddin has any complaints that he is not being supported by Umno and whether he has a problem in gaining majority support from the Dewan Rakyat.
In the early hours of this morning, the Umno supreme council announced it had decided to withdraw the party's support for Muhyiddin with immediate effect, less than 12 hours after Muhyiddin announced that Umno vice-president Ismail had been appointed as his deputy.
In revealing the party's decision, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Muhyiddin should step aside for an interim prime minister to take over his duties.
"Umno urges Muhyiddin to resign with honour, to allow a new prime minister to be appointed for a limited term," Zahid added in the 12.50am live broadcast.
The interim prime minister, he said, should only focus on the people's welfare and remain in power until "herd immunity" against the Covid-19 virus is achieved.
Following this, a fresh general election should be held.
- Mkini
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