Puad says Annuar’s wrong – no MoU after July 31

 

Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi (left) said Annuar Musa should abide by the council’s decision on the political understanding with Pakatan Harapan.

PETALING JAYA: Annuar Musa’s comments on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and Pakatan Harapan were “inaccurate”, said Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi.

Puad said Umno’s top leadership had already decided there would be no extension to the current MoU nor a renewed version beyond July 31.

“The decision was affirmed by the party’s Supreme Council in its last meeting,” he said in a statement. “Perhaps Annuar was unaware of this or chose against complying. After all, he is not a Supreme Council member.”

Annuar had said yesterday that the MoU between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH leaders last September had no expiry date. What was agreed upon was that the next general election (GE15) could not be held before July 31.

However, Puad said Annuar should not make statements contradicting his party’s decision. “He is best advised to comply with the party’s decision,” he said, adding that even Ismail abided by Umno’s stance on the MoU as he was a party vice-president and Supreme Council member.

Puad said there were no valid reasons for the MoU to be extended as it was nothing but a lifeline for PH and did little to help the country’s political stability.

Last September, the federal government and PH inked the MoU to establish bipartisan cooperation covering the measures to fight Covid-19, the transformation of the administration, parliamentary reforms, ensuring judicial independence, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the formation of a steering committee.

However, in April, Ismail said the government would follow the Umno Supreme Council’s stand on the MoU and would not extend it beyond July. - FMT