Amidst all the negative publicity over the “defection” of its six members of parliament to the government's side by declaring their support for PM Anwar, it would appear that the top opposition leaders from Bersatu have finally come together to show solidarity with its president Muhyiddin Yassin.
In a statement issued recently following a special meeting between the party's supreme council members last week, party secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin, has reaffirmed that its ex-prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin is still the right man to lead the party!
He added that the supreme council had unanimously agreed to carry on fighting the “evil lies and tyranny” of Anwar's government under the leadership of Muhyiddin whom he said will make the party more credible, firm and courageous.
Furthermore, it was reported that during the meeting, which took four hours, the party’s supreme council had also decided to finally adopt a no-nonsense stance by taking legal action against its MPs who betray the party by having their parliamentary seats vacated; this was after the party agreed to amend Article 10 of the party’s constitution on the expulsion of members.
According to Hamzah, the decision was made to prevent other Bersatu MPs from following the footsteps of the six (rogue) MPs who have so far declared support for PM Anwar Ibrahim in order to receive funding for development projects in their constituencies.
Ironically, the actions of the six Bersatu lawmakers currently do not violate the anti-hopping law as technically they have not resigned from the party but only “declared support” for the prime minister; additionally, the said law also provides that they will not be disqualified from holding their seat in the event they are expelled from the political party they were in when they were elected.
However, according to Hamzah, with the latest amendment to the party’s constitution, it was now ready to face any by-election.
Incidentally, last year it was widely reported that the original “draft” anti-hopping bill presented to the Cabinet by then law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar back in 2022 had actually contained a provision to declare a seat vacant if an MP went against the party stance; however, apparently Bersatu’s top guns had rejected the clause - and now seemingly their grave oversight has come back to haunt them!
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post its outspoken youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal has hailed the recent meeting of its supreme council members, where several concrete measures and decisions were announced to fight back PM Anwar’s unity government whom he labelled as an “evil, stupid and arrogant!”
He also highlighted the concerns raised by his party president Muhyiddin and the supreme council recently regarding the country's economy which continues to remain sluggish thus affecting the rakyat’s well-being; he added that this has been made worse by the rise in utilities bills which consumers had to bear now.
Moreover, Muhyiddin had also recently reprimanded the current government for being ignorant of what's going on in the country, adding that it was not just the hike in food prices but also school bus fares and medicines that was burdening the people.
Furthermore, the PN chairman went on to say that the Malaysian Manufacturers Price Index has continued to record a negative flow of 1.3% in December last year indicating that the foreign demand for the country’s products is still low; according to him, this may force local manufacturers to scale down production which could trigger a chain reaction.
The Pagoh MP also complained that the current government hasn't been helping businesses in their recovery phase, warning that all these will eventually cause the rakyat to suffer as their savings and income sources are bound to be affected.
Yet, the ex-PM did not offer any suggestions or advice on how to stimulate the economy in order to help the rakyat but as a parting shot to Anwar's unity government, he predicted that at this rate, he expects the country to descend into an even worse economic slump!
Nevertheless, political observers may raise questions about Bersatu's sudden tough stance. Firstly, are their latest measures “too little too late” as they have already “lost” the support of six of its MPs? And what took them so long to get their act together?
Secondly, with Muhyiddin receiving a renewed “vote of confidence” from the party's supreme council members, will this throw a spanner into the works of its coalition partner PAS who may be quietly harbouring a desire to nominate its own candidate to take over the leadership of PN which appears to have lost some of its feared “green wave” aura since the conclusion of the six states election last year?
Main Information Source: Facebook and Malay Mail
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