Ex-aide rubbishes call for Muhyiddin to quit as Bersatu chief

 

Marzuki Mohamad (left) cites a survey that says Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin is still the most popular leader in Johor.

PETALING JAYA: A former aide to Muhyiddin Yassin has dismissed an analyst’s call for the Bersatu president to be replaced following the failure to forge some form of cooperation with opposition parties.

Muhyiddin’s former principal private secretary, Marzuki Mohamad, also said Perikatan Nasional’s heavy loss in the Johor elections was not a valid reason, as that would mean leaders of parties that lost at the polls should resign as well.

“There was a party that saw all its candidates losing their deposits. The chairman and president of this party should step down before Muhyiddin.

“There was a party whose seats dwindled to one. Shouldn’t the president of this party step down too?” he said in a Facebook post today, referring to Pejuang and PKR, respectively.

Marzuki also pointed out that PKR, despite losing in four general elections, managed to come out victorious in 2018, all while under the leadership of the then president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

He was responding to political analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara, who had said Bersatu was in a “very desperate” situation and needed someone to take over the party from Muhyiddin.

“After being rejected by Pejuang and Pakatan Harapan, Bersatu needs to think very hard about a new leader,” Azmi had told FMT.

But Marzuki claimed that PN was the only coalition that recorded an increase in Malay voter support in the Johor polls, compared to Barisan Nasional and PH, describing it as an achievement by Muhyiddin.

He also said a survey by Institut Masa Depan Malaysia and Merdeka Center for Opinion Research found that Muhyiddin was still the most popular leader in Johor, with an approval rating of 52%.

In comparison, he said, Najib Razak’s approval rating was 39%, followed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad (35%), Lim Guan Eng (24%) and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (14%).

“Muhyiddin also led in terms of (respondents’ preferred) prime minister candidate with 29% choosing him, compared to Anwar Ibrahim (23%) and Ismail Sabri Yaakob (16%),” he said. - FMT