KUALA LUMPUR – Caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has now said that the 12 Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers, who sent a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong objecting to an early election, are not to be blamed for the dissolution of Parliament.
In a U-turn from his earlier statement, the Bera MP instead noted that they were merely acting based on party orders, in reference to Bersatu president and PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
This comes just two days after Ismail Sabri pinned blame on the PN ministers for Parliament's dissolution, saying their action had undermined him as a prime minister and caused political turmoil.
He also accused Muhyiddin of planting seeds of division within the coalition government when he publicly declared Barisan Nasional (BN) as PN’s main enemy.
However, referring to Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin’s remark yesterday – that the ministers had no choice but to submit the letters to the Agong as they are responsible to their party – Ismail Sabri today said he understood their actions.
“Hamzah has said that the decision (to send the letters) was a party decision. This means they rely on the party’s view. There was influence from the president, and the ministers from Bersatu could not dissociate themselves from this influence.
“This means they received an instruction from the president to pen the letters, and although inappropriate, they did it.
“I don’t blame them, because there was an order from the party,” he told reporters today after attending the launch of the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway here today.
Ismail Sabri said that in view of this, he was forced to advise the Agong to dissolve Parliament as any more pressure would further threaten the government’s stability.
‘If I was pressured, Parliament would have been dissolved long ago’
Asked if his decision to call for election was similarly out of pressure from Umno’s top guns, Ismail Sabri rubbished such notion, saying he would have dissolved Parliament much earlier if this was the case.
“After the Johor election (in March), there were calls for dissolution. Every time there was an Umno assembly, it was the same. Umno has spoken about dissolution for a long time, but the question was of timing.
“(Previously) I never planned an appropriate date for the election. But when these issues (letter to Agong) cropped up, I saw that the government could not go on, and as such, I dissolved Parliament,” he said.
Separately, Ismail Sabri dismissed accusations by rival parties that the decision for a snap election was meant to free Umno’s court cluster from facing possible jail time.
He insisted that the move was to return the mandate to the rakyat, following months of political instability marred by accusations of the government’s illegitimacy.
“By right, the opposition should be happy and thankful to me for expediting the election, allowing the rakyat to choose a new government. The longer the current government stays, the more accusations of us being an illegitimate one will arise.
“If they feel our legitimacy is doubtful, by right they should have been happy when I announced the dissolution,” he said.
He was asked to comment on statements issued by opposition lawmakers on a recent speech by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi warning that more BN leaders face potential action if Pakatan Harapan is allowed to return to power. – The Vibes, October 13, 2022
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