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PETALING JAYA: Economy Prime Minister Azmin Ali claims that the formation of Perikatan Nasional was the idea of former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
In an interview with The Star, Azmin said the idea was aimed at ensuring that Mahathir remained prime minister with the support of MPs from all parties.
“So we were doing everything we could to ensure that Dr. Mahathir would continue to serve as prime minister,” he said, referring to a meeting at Mahathir’s home with six party leaders.
Azmin said that he was present at the meeting with five other party leaders, namely Muhyiddin Yassin (PPBM), Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Umno), Shafie Apdal (Warisan), Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS) and Abang Johari Openg (Gabungan Parti Sarawak).
But, he said, Mahathir’s resignation as prime minister earlier this year was a stumbling block and if the 95-year-old did not resign, he would remain the prime minister with a larger majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
Azmin said that Mahathir’s resignation as prime minister led the nation into a political crisis.
“If Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not act within that small window, someone else could have rushed into the palace and pressured the palace to become prime minister. He would not have allowed that to happen.
“The only option for Muhyiddin and me was to leave Pakatan,” said Azmin, who later left PKR. Later he joined PPBM.
Still, Azmin said, party leaders went back to Mahathir and tried to come up with numbers to support him as the prime minister when Yang di-Pertuan Agong interviewed MPs to determine who they supported.
But they could not. In the end, Azmin said that it was Muhyiddin who got the majority.
Azmin said that he still regards Mahathir as a father and insists that he did not choose Muhyiddin over the statesman.
In the interview, Azmin was also asked about his fallout with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, whom he had long supported.
Azmin said it was not his fault.
“I have served him for 30 years. Officially for 15 years, when he held the positions of ministers of education and finance and deputy prime minister.
“I also took care of his family when he was in prison. I thought that after I got out of jail, I would come out a better person. “
But Azmin said that Anwar became a “bitter person” and many have abandoned him since then.
“You can see that his close team left him and many others from his previous personal team left him as well,” he said.
