Bersatu man defends Muhyiddin after calls for PAS to chair PN

 

Wan Saiful Wan Jan said it is Muhyiddin Yassin, not Bersatu, who leads Perikatan Nasional.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Bersatu Supreme Council member has come to president Muhyiddin Yassin’s defence after it was suggested that PAS takes over the leadership of Perikatan Nasional.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan said that Muhyiddin was chosen as PN chairman for his ability to unite the component parties in the opposition coalition, and agreed upon by the member parties.

Muhyiddin was at the helm not as a representative of Bersatu, he said. “It is Muhyiddin who leads, not Bersatu,” he said when met at a forum here today.

The opposition coalition did not create the chairmanship for Muhyiddin’s sake, he added. “To me, Muhyiddin is still needed to ensure PN moves forward.”

Wan Saiful Wan Jan was responding to a call by Umno veteran Shahrir Samad for PN to be led by PAS following Bersatu’s internal problems that led to six of its MPs throwing their support behind Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Shahrir claimed that Bersatu is currently unstable as some party members are unhappy with its president Muhyiddin’s reversal of his decision to not defend his party post.

On Nov 25 last year, Muhyiddin had said at Bersatu’s annual general assembly that he had changed his mind about stepping down, after speaking to his wife.

Shahrir said “apparently, one of the reasons for the ‘crossing over’ to the government side is because Muhyiddin made a U-turn on the advice of his wife”. - FMT