It must have been a huge shock to the Bersatu leadership when their Gua Musang MP Mohd Azizi Abu Naim decided to break ranks and give his support to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim - taking the cue from Kuala Kangsar MP Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid And Labuan MP Suhaili Abdul Rahman, who had taken a similar stance earlier.
According to the Malay-language online daily Utusan.com, Azizi who defeated Umno's Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in the past general election (GE15) had said that his decision to back Anwar will take effect immediately; apparently, this was conveyed through an official announcement in his Facebook page.
The Bersatu MP added that with this he hoped that the welfare and well-being of his constituents will be taken care of; he also expressed confidence that his move will ensure there are more benefits for the people in Gua Musang especially in terms of infrastructure developments.
He also said that he will support all the unity government's initiatives which prioritises the people's well-being until the next general election.
Interestingly, Azizi who is also the state assemblyman for Nenggiri went on to say that he has no intention to quit Bersatu and that he will remain loyal to them; instead he claimed that his decision is to "align" his constituency with the federal government under prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Bersatu MP then called on his "beloved" constituents to pray for the continued blessings of the Almighty upon Gua Musang so that it can enjoy the fruits of developments as hoped for.
According to the same news report, Azizi who had contested in GE15 under the Pas logo had turned “giant killer” after defeating the 10-term incumbent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah aka Kuli from Barisan Nasional with a slim majority of 163 votes.
Then, barely twenty-fours later another news rocked the Bersatu camp when their Jeli MP Zahari Kechik became yet another opposition representative to declare his support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his unity government; strangely the reasons given by Zahari for his decision seemed identical with that of his counterpart from Gua Musang!
Meanwhile, last September FMT had reported that Perikatan Nasional MPs staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat in protest after Putrajaya MP Radzi Jidin was ejected from the House for lashing out at PM Anwar; however it was reported that Muar MP Syed Saddiq and the PN MP for Ketereh, Datuk Khlir Mohd Nor from Pas did not join the walkout and had remained in the Dewan Rakyat - which incidentally, must have raised some eyebrows.
Anyway, are these “defections” actually a form of sit-in protest against the Bersatu leadership for their failure to ”negotiate" with the unity government to release the allocation for their respective constituencies? And are there more on the way?
The truth is, with PM Anwar holding back the allocations for opposition MPs pending their 'negotiations' with Putrajaya, it would appear that more and more of them (mainly from Bersatu but also some from Pas) may be feeling the pinch financially as they will not be able to fully serve their constituents.
This may beg the question: Is Bersatu now beginning to lose its grip on its MPs, who may be growing impatient and may start throwing in the towel? All because the opposition big-wigs in parliament such as Hamzah Zainudin and Takiyuddin Hassan have refused to "negotiate" with Putrajaya as required by PM Anwar?
In fact, if this trend continues then Bersatu's credibility and power within PN is bound to wane, dealing a blow to the political aspirations of its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his other ambitious party compatriots such as Azmin Ali and Hamzah Zainudin.
More disturbingly for them, it's an open secret that the party had won many seats in the last GE15 and the recent state elections by riding on Pas' increasing popularity with voters (read: "green wave"); will the Islamist party now be compelled to gradually "reclaim" some of those seats from it's floundering coalition partner, before their opponents start to move in for the kill?
If such a scenario does come true, what will be the fate of the main movers and shakers of the infamous "Sheraton Move"?
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