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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – As internal strife continues within the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) of Malaysia, an audio recording of the last party supreme council meeting was leaked before leaving the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. rounds on social media.
In the one-minute audio recording, a voice that sounds like that of party president Muhyiddin Yassin can be heard saying that President Mahathir Mohamad was mandated to remove Bersatu from PH.
“We hope that Dr. Mahathir will carry out a cabinet shakeup before Parliament meets again … arrange everything within this week. Perhaps we can also wait until Dr. Mahathir meets with party leaders” .
“Okay, we wait a week … Today is a little emotional and we are deliberating on the most important issue in history, which is outside Pakatan, but we will continue to be the government. Government led by Bersatu, which is important.
“So if appropriate, do we want to end our meeting today and after that, will we give the mandate to Dr. Mahathir? Okay?” the man said, to which the meeting participants responded with “setuju (agree)”.
The male voice is also heard saying that Tun Dr Mahathir’s decision should not be discussed, given his “wisdom”.
“We have never doubted Dr. Mahathir’s wisdom, there must be some wisdom. He has been Prime Minister for so long that we must respect him.”
“So we have to do what he says. If that’s the case, we can end the meeting. Our decision is to respect Dr. Mahathir’s opinion, we understand what he means but we give a little time,” he says.
According to sources, the meeting was held on February 23, before another meeting at the Sheraton Hotel later that night, attended by MPs from Barisan Nasional (BN) and former MPs who left the PH aligned with the ex-vice president of the party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Mohamed Azmin Ali.
It is also understood that the leaders present at the meeting were particularly excited and upset by a meeting on the night of February 21, where PH leaders had pressured Dr. Mahathir to set a transition date for the PKR president, Anwar Ibrahim took over as Prime Minister and Bersatu threatened to withdraw from the coalition.
This seemed to corroborate with an excerpt at the beginning of the audio recording, where the man who sounds like Tan Sri Muhyiddin is heard saying, “We want to find a reason … and that move could be a trigger.”
What is now called the “Sheraton Movement” triggered a week-long political stalemate that saw the collapse of the PH government, which was replaced by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by Muhyiddin as prime minister.
Dr. Mahathir recently said that he was forced to resign as prime minister and president of Bersatu, as the party had decided to leave PH and cooperate with BN.
His comments were disputed by Bersatu’s chief information officer Radzi Jidin, who said that Dr. Mahathir had agreed to Bersatu’s decision to leave PH, but decided to change his position at the last moment.
However, Dr. Mahathir’s son and Bersatu Vice President Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said his father had never agreed with Bersatu’s decision to leave PH.
Bersatu is now divided between the factions of Dr. Mahathir and Mr. Muhyiddin, with the first intention of returning to PH and the second intending to remain in the Perikatan pact.
The May 18 session of Parliament, the first since PH lost federal power, is highly anticipated after a motion of mistrust was filed against Muhyiddin.
The open fire between Dr. Mahathir and Mr. Muhyiddin appeared to have intensified in the past few days after the nonagenarian faction openly attacked Mr. Muhyiddin, resulting in Mr. Mukhriz’s second outing as Kedah menteri kissing.
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