Umno Youth chief dares Muhyiddin to withdraw support for PM

If Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin thinks the government has mismanaged the economy, he should tell ministers from his coalition to withdraw support for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Putting forward the challenge, Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the country’s economy today is actually far better than it was during Muhyiddin’s “half-baked lockdown” when the latter was prime minister.

“Who has actually failed to manage the economy? Who’s the senior minister of the economic cluster, cum minister of international trade and industry?

“Who’s the chairperson of the National Economic Recovery Council? Aren’t all of them from the ‘flower’ party?” Asyraf said in a statement posted on Facebook today, referring to Bersatu, of which Muhyiddin is president.

For the record, the senior minister Asyraf (above, left) was referring to is Bersatu’s Azmin Ali, while the latter is Muhyiddin himself.

Asyraf further questioned whether Muhyiddin (above, right) would also dub Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who has held the finance portfolio since Muhyiddin's time, a failure too after the latter joined BN.

“Most importantly, if Muhyiddin is confident that today’s government has failed to manage the economy, and has to call for the 15th general election (GE15), he should ‘man up’ and immediately instruct his people who make up part of today’s cabinet to withdraw their support for the PM,” the Umno leader added.

‘What’s the PM doing?’

Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth information chief Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir asked what the prime minister is doing to address the sliding ringgit and lukewarm economy.

“The days of lockdown are over, but a lot of factories, companies, and businesses are yet to reopen. Even some plantations have gone out of business.

“This is due to the labour shortage. What is the PM doing to address this issue? It has been more than a year since (Ismail Sabri) became the PM. Covid is almost gone, but the economic situation is worsening,” said Ashraf in a statement today.

Bersatu Youth information chief Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir

He was responding to Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan’s remark that Muhyiddin should look in the mirror before chastising his successor Ismail Sabri.

Ashraf further alleged that Ismail Sabri had repeatedly asked the government to look into the effects of the sliding ringgit on the people’s livelihoods, but the calls had been purportedly ignored.

“Muhyiddin strove to ease the people’s burden. Now, under the Umno-BN rule, the economic sector has been reopened, but it is still doing badly, with soaring inflation, withdrawn subsidies, increasing burdens, and unemployment, among others,” he said.

For those reasons, he stressed that the general election should be called as soon as possible so that a more “trustworthy” leader can be chosen to lead the country.- Mkini