KUALA LUMPUR – The Umno Supreme Council’s move to bring down the prime minister will only pay off if the party’s parliamentarians back a no-confidence motion, said Umno election director Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman.
He told Utusan Online that all will be decided when the Dewan Rakyat convenes in the last week of this month.
“Now, the Supreme Council has decided on two things – one, to withdraw support for the prime minister and another, to allow its MPs to decide to support the prime minister when the Dewan Rakyat convenes.
“If there is a no-confidence vote, the MPs are free to make their own decision. We will have to wait for the Dewan Rakyat to convene to know if the Supreme Council gets its wish.
“They cannot blame me because the council has allowed for us to choose. We have our own stand.”
Earlier, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said the majority of its Supreme Council members were resoundingly in favour of withdrawing support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
However, the collective decision does not mean going against Perikatan Nasional as a whole, he added, in an apparent backtrack on the announcement made by party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi following a Supreme Council meet late Wednesday night.
Clarifying confusion that may have cropped up, Ahmad told The Vibes that reports that most council members had disagreed with the move to sever ties with PN are not true.
He said this after newly minted Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently told local daily Berita Harian that most of the councillors were not in favour of pulling the plug on Muhyiddin and the PN government.
Ahmad said Ismail Sabri has since corrected the report and raised the matter with Berita Harian.
“He (Ismail Sabri) has issued a correction.”
The Pontian MP revealed that, out of the 56 Supreme Council members, 50 had signed a form agreeing to withdraw support for Muhyiddin prior to the meeting.
“Since the president was to hold a virtual meeting, he had called the Supreme Council members individually beforehand.
“In the majority of the individual meetings, I was there, along with the deputy president (Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan). I was there 95% of the time.”
Ahmad said of the 56 councillors, one was Umno executive secretary Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan, who was excluded from voicing his views due to his administrative role, leaving 55 able to vote.
Of the 55, only two did not sign the form agreeing to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, he said, but claims that they had verbally given the nod.
Two others decided to “keep in view” the matter, and one – who did not meet Zahid – did not sign the form, he added.
“We know he does not agree (with withdrawing support for Muhyiddin).”
The Umno secretary-general said 35 councillors agreed unconditionally, while 15 agreed with conditions.
“Among the conditions were no (Tun Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad), no (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim), no DAP, no Bersatu, and they wanted an Umno-led government.
“When the president made the announcement after the meeting, when he said ‘no Anwar’, ‘no DAP-led government’, it means that the majority (of Supreme Council members) who gave the conditions were satisfied with the proposal.”
Ahmad said none of the 50 had disagreed with Zahid during the hybrid meeting on Wednesday.
“So, we can confirm that they supported what the president said, and the figures have also been mentioned.”
Council members, such as Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim and Datuk Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, were present in the online meet, although they are currently in Egypt, according to Ahmad.
Another member, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, was absent due to an illness, he added.
The parliamentarian said he recorded 25 members speaking during the meeting, which began at 8.30pm and lasted past midnight.
Of the total, some were initially hesitant about not backing Muhyiddin, but they were outnumbered by those who agreed without any qualms, he added.
On whether Zahid’s announcement means that Umno ministers and leaders holding government positions need to resign, Ahmad replied in the negative.
“We asked Muhyiddin to resign. That is what we are asking for; we never asked anyone else to resign.”
However, he noted that the Supreme Council had much earlier affirmed its decision to support Muhyiddin as the head of government on March 11 last year, soon after he became prime minister.
At that time, Umno had stated six conditions for Muhyiddin in return for its support. Among them were that his government should resolve the Covid-19 crisis, address the economy and ensure national unity.
“But Covid-19 has not been resolved, and the economy is not well managed. So, based on the July 7 meeting… we retracted our support made in March 2020,” said Ahmad.
“It is to withdraw support for Muhyiddin specifically.” – The Vibes, July 12, 2021
