After stepping down as Malaysia's seventh prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad argues that he is not to blame for the country's political crisis.
According to Berita Harian, the former Bersatu chairman claimed that he requested the party to delay its decision to leave Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the political crisis in 2020, but the request was ignored, which resulted in the demise of the PH administration at the time.
Following the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's directive, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, Dr. Mahathir made this statement on February 13 during the Second Term Opening Ceremony of the 15th Parliament.
His Majesty is convinced that the chain of political unrest that would have continued until the 15th General Election would not have occurred if the incident that caused the resignation of the Seventh Prime Minister hadn't occurred, according to his majesty's instruction.
"I don't know why people criticise me for resigning when the real culprits are the ones who didn't agree with me at the time. I quit because my party, BERSATU, rejected me, and in democracies when our own party rejects us, we often resign.
In fact, I was informed at the time that the PH administration would fall as a result of the resignation of the Bersatu leaders and a few PKR MPs. My party won't be in power when PH crumbles, thus I won't even be able to become prime minister, claimed Dr. Mahathir.
Dr. Mahathir clarified this at a press conference with the leadership of Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (PUTRA) held in this location today. He stated that he was unable to transfer power to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at that time because, in accordance with the usual procedure, it needed to be done through Parliament.
Following a decision made by the party's Supreme Leadership Council at a special meeting conducted the previous evening, Bersatu announced its departure from PH in a statement issued by its president, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, on February 23, 2020. The following day, it prompted Mahathir to step down as the seventh prime minister.
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