KUALA LUMPUR – The fallout from PKR lawmaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s recent interview continues, with Pejuang’s Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir refuting claims of the role his father allegedly played in the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
Mukhriz, in a Facebook post today, countered Nik Nazmi blaming former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for bringing in Umno MPs into Bersatu, eventually leading to the fall of the PH administration in February last year.
Mukhriz added that Dr Mahathir’s priority in his political struggle is to serve the country and fight injustice, as well as oppression, against its citizens.
“A fact that cannot be denied is that, despite numerous hurdles, Pakatan Harapan, led by Dr Mahathir, won the 2018 general election. His leadership was the one that united all voters who were tired of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s kleptocracy.
“What was very obvious is when many Malay voters who generally vote for Umno decided to choose Dr Mahathir’s leadership.”
Mukhriz described Nik Nazmi’s criticism as “hypocritical”, as the real reason Umno MPs were keen on joining PH through Bersatu was because PH won and overthrew the Najib-led Barisan Nasional government.
“We won legitimately, unlike the current Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration, which offers goodies but punishes if it is unable to get what it seeks just to stay in power.”
Mukhriz also questioned whether PH’s achievements in 22 months could have been possible if Dr Mahathir had made unilateral decisions and poor leadership, as Nik Nazmi claims.
“Actually the selection of ministers involving warring factions within PKR at that time should have been settled internally. Why was Dr Mahathir blamed instead, as though he sided with certain people when appointing senior PKR leaders as cabinet members?
“I would like to stress to Nik Nazmi that, in your enthusiasm to make Anwar prime minister, you continue to blame others, especially Dr Mahathir, for all of PKR’s failures.
“When I was chairman of the Bersatu membership committee, I was entrusted with evaluating the application for membership and filter out problematic individuals.
“Despite voicing out my objection with regard to several Umno MPs joining Bersatu, Muhyiddin used his powers as party president to reject my suggestion to the Bersatu presidential council.”
PKR, Mukhriz said, should not “pretend that its leaders were sincere and gentlemanly during PH’s administration”.
“PAS’ Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi had revealed that Anwar had tried to secure PAS’ support for a non-confidence vote against Dr Mahathir when PH was still the ruling government.
“That is backstabbing.” – The Vibes, March 24, 2021
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