KUALA LUMPUR – An Umno Supreme Council member has taken a swipe at ousted prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over the latter’s claim that the current administration under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is a Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
In a response to Muhyiddin’s social media post regarding his successor’s courtesy visit earlier, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan pointed out that the PN brand as the federal government has ended today, and that Umno under Barisan Nasional (BN) had never been a PN component party.
“Alhamdullillah DS Ismail Sabri has been appointed as the ninth prime minister. Therefore, the PN brand as the federal government ends today. Before this, BN was not even a PN component party.
“The previous government was a coalition between BN, PN, Parti Bersatu Sabah and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, and not a PN government.
“I don’t know who the smarty pants was that called the previous government a PN government,” said Rahman in a Facebook post.
Earlier, Muhyiddin had shared Ismail Sabri’s visit on his Facebook page and voiced his support.
But instead of acknowledging that Ismail Sabri hails from Umno and the BN coalition, the Pagoh lawmaker said that he will continue supporting his successor and the PN government.
Some political observers were quick to point out that this could possibly mean that the ousted Muhyiddin wants to pre-empt any possibility of a unity cabinet under Ismail Sabri, seeing that the Bera MP had done what Muhyiddin did not – engage the opposition at the earliest opportunity.
“I give my full support to him and, insyaAllah, will continue helping the PN government deliver the best service to the people, particularly during the nation’s recovery phase,” Muhyiddin’s Facebook post read.
The Bersatu president’s words can once again be seen as going against the wishes of Istana Negara, seeing that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had called for politicians to put aside their ambitions and cooperate to bring Malaysia out of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic mire. – The Vibes, August 21, 2021
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