Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had asked for his support.
"He wanted me to support him in his bid to become prime minister once again," he told reporters when asked to confirm a news report that former prime minister Muhyiddin had met with him recently.
Speaking at a press conference this morning at his office in Al-Bukhary Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir said he was also puzzled as to why Muhyiddin had done so.
"I don't know but he asked me. We are not strong, we don't have money, but he asked us to support him," he added when asked how Pejuang would be able to help as the party does not have many MPs.
The Langkawi MP said that Pejuang has not made any decision on the matter, but hinted that he was against it.
"I did not know what to say to him. I stepped down from the prime minister’s post because of what Muhyiddin did. He backstabbed me. The person he backstabbed isn't even dead yet," Mahathir said, referring to the 2020 Sheraton Move political coup that saw the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government.
Undeserving of support
At that time Mahathir was Bersatu’s chairperson but he was sacked. He then formed Pejuang.
Mahathir also implied that Muhyiddin's performance as prime minister was unimpressive and undeserving of support.
"He was not a good prime minister. If he had done great things for Malaysia I believe he can make it even without my support.
"We are not going to support a prime minister who was as much a failure as Najib Abdul Razak was," said Mahathir.
While Mahathir has spoke out against Muhyiddin today, his son Mukhriz, who is also Pejuang president, had indicated yesterday that the party would be willing to leave the past behind and work with Bersatu or other opposition parties.
Despite Pejuang's dismal performance in the Johor elections last month that saw all of its 42 candidates losing their deposits, Mahathir insisted there is still on the ground support with only 5,000 members in the state but over 18,000 votes garnered in total.
Pejuang had campaigned on an anti-corruption platform but Mahathir claimed that alleged that money politics continued to hamper the party's progress.
"Yes. One of the reasons but a very important reason," he said when directly asked whether money politics was a factor against Pejuang's candidates.
"When we ring up some voters their answer was 'how much are you going to give?' They say a certain party will give RM200," Mahathir claimed.
He earlier met with NGO Yayasan Anti-Rasuah and accepted an application by its president Mohamad Nizam Isa to formally join Pejuang. - Mkini
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