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KUALA LUMPUR – Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz is unperturbed by the prospect of being sacked from Umno after the deadline for the party’s MPs to state their stand on the current political situation in the country lapsed.
Speaking to The Vibes, Nazri said he did not bother replying to the demand letter issued by the party earlier this week, and he is prepared to face the music, as the crisis within Umno deepens even further.
“The party said if we don’t withdraw support for the government, it will take action under Umno’s constitution, which would include a warning and sacking. I’m waiting to be sacked.
“Yes, I’m prepared. They can take action, I’m not bothered. For now, I’ll wait,” he said today, maintaining he has not committed any offence against party rules.
On Thursday, Nazri said Umno MPs were issued a letter by secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan demanding them to declare whether they are together with the party in retracting support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
It is understood that the letter had informed the lawmakers that they face disciplinary action under Article 20 of Umno’s constitution should they refuse to comply with the party’s decision.
Nazri said if the party was to act sternly against all its MPs who have supposedly “gone rogue” in declaring support for the government, this could see Umno losing a number of high profile names from its ranks should all of them be removed.
“They will have to take action against the deputy prime minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) and the ministers too.”
Apart from a couple cabinet members who relinquished their positions in the past few days, other Umno MPs with ministerial and deputy ministerial positions have pledged their support for the Muhyiddin-led administration until the confidence motion in the Dewan Rakyat next month.
Nazri said regardless of the threats from his own party, he and his fellow dissenters will be voting in favour of Muhyiddin when his legitimacy is put to the test in Parliament next month.
“The Umno general assembly in March has decided that the party will remain in the government until the next general election.
“If we withdraw and still want to be part of the government, then which government are we talking about? The one with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP? Both have been unanimously rejected by the assembly.
“The idea is we still want to be in the government, but now you ask us to pull out. That’s why I refuse to listen to the Supreme Council’s decision (to withdraw support).”
Umno is already entangled in infighting between two factions – one behind party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the other largely comprising lawmakers with government posts – amid an ongoing political quagmire over the prime minister’s legitimacy.
According to Nazri, the movement within Umno, led by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and in support of PN, only started making strides within the party after efforts to have a meeting with Zahid to iron out their differences were refused multiple times.
“He (Zahid) refused to meet us. We sought for a meeting four times since his audience with the king in early June, when His Majesty granted audiences to political leaders. We even asked to meet before that.
“When he refused to see us, that was what prompted me to form this group of initially 25 MPs, with Hishammuddin being the spokesman.” – The Vibes, August 7, 2021
