We did not want a ‘backdoor’ government, says Asyraf

 

Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s coalition government was formed in August last year with the support of MPs from Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional and East Malaysian parties. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki says he and his party were never in favour of forming a so-called “backdoor” government.

He said the government formed by Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob in August last year, after the collapse of Muhyiddin Yassin’s government, was inherently unstable because of “conditional support” given by Perikatan Nasional (PN).

He said PN’s “conditional” support, as described by Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan, put the coalition in a position to destabilise the government.

Among the conditions was that Ismail had to retain certain Cabinet members, such as finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, home minister Hamzah Zainudin, and international trade and industry minister Azmin Ali.

Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

“In such a situation, it is clearly not easy for a prime minister who doesn’t represent the largest party in the government to declare a clear direction, let alone introduce policies if he is threatened by parties such as PN, which is the largest component,” he said.

“The country will be unstable and will fail to gain the confidence of the business community if the government does not have the true mandate of the people and is constantly under threat,” he said, according to Sinar Harian.

Ismail’s government and that of Muhyiddin’s in 2020 were labelled as “backdoor” governments by the opposition as they were directly appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong following constitutional process when MPs and political parties formed parliamentary alliances after the resignations of previous prime ministers.

Asyraf said Umno had merely respected the wishes of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who he said “was not ready to dissolve Parliament during a pandemic after the fall of Pakatan Harapan” (following the resignation of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister in February 2020).

His comment came in the wake of a statement by Wan Saiful that it was his party, Bersatu, and not Umno which had nominated Ismail as prime minister.

“The fact is this is not a BN-Umno government, but a coalition government. More accurately, Perikatan Nasional 2.0 or the ‘Keluarga Malaysia government’,” Wan Saiful had said.

Ismail’s government, which commands 115 seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, was formed by Barisan Nasional (41 seats) and Perikatan Nasional (53 seats) with the support of GPS (18 seats) and two other East Malaysia parties (3 seats).

The opposition comprise Pakatan Harapan (90 seats), Warisan (7), Pejuang (4), PSB (2) and Muda (1). - FMT