Are you above being opposition leader, Shahrir asks Muhyiddin

Shahrir Samad (left) says Muhyiddin Yassin ‘neutered’ Parliament through the Emergency declared during the pandemic.

PETALING JAYA: Umno veteran Shahrir Samad has taken a dig at Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, asking if the Bersatu president was above being the opposition leader and only deserved to become the prime minister.

The former Johor Bahru MP was referring to several reports on Muhyiddin criticising Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet line-up as well as saying that Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional had committed “the biggest electoral fraud”.

“Rightfully, Muhyiddin should be the opposition leader in the Dewan Rakyat, but he doesn’t want it. Does he only deserve to become prime minister?” Shahrir said in a Facebook post.

He suggested that perhaps the Bersatu president did not care for Parliament having “neutered” it via the Emergency that was enforced because of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

“Perhaps Putrajaya is better … just like with the Sheraton Move, when he became the prime minister,” he said. “A prime minister who was not elected through a general election and who doesn’t need the Parliament. How lovely.”

Muhyiddin was appointed the prime minister following the Sheraton Move in February 2020, which resulted in the collapse of the 22-month-old PH administration, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

However, he held the post for only 17 months after Umno MPs retracted their support for him in the PN-led government, and was succeeded by Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob after a compromise was reached between BN and PN.

Shahrir said Muhyiddin should now focus on national-level politics after PN only managed to win two parliamentary seats in Johor (Pagoh and Mersing) and three state seats (Bukit Kepong, Maharani and Endau) in GE15. - FMT