Muhyiddin gave up principles to become Malaysia’s PM: Former PM

PETALING JAYA, Jul 19, 2020, FMT. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed tonight that his successor, Muhyiddin Yassin had told him he was willing to forgo principles for politics, during the period after the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in February, Free Malaysia Today reported.

Mahathir alleged that Muhyiddin, who is PPBM president, had said he was willing to work with former Umno leader Najib Razak and his allies to ensure being appointed for the top position, which Muhyiddin was eyeing.

Muhyiddin put himself forward as a candidate for the vacant premiership when he knew that Mahathir was not willing to work with Umno.

“I asked him several times if he was willing to work with his enemy,” Mahathir said at a rally called PPBM Blackout in Alor Setar this evening.

“His response was ‘I am willing because politics is more important than principles. We can forget the previous struggle, because through politics, we have a chance to be the PM’. And that is why our party split to two,” Mahathir said.

Mahathir was chairman of PPBM as well as chairman of Pakatan Harapan. He resigned as prime minister and PPBM chairman, causing the collapse of the PH government. Muhyiddin later took PPBM out of Pakatan Harapan and formed a new government with the support of Umno, PAS and minor parties.

Tonight’s rally was held to protest against PPBM’s decision to revoke Mahathir’s membership and that of five others aligned to him because they had been seated with the opposition bloc during a one-day Dewan Rakyat meeting in May.

The other five formerly with PPBM were Mukhriz Mahathir (MP for Jerlun), Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muar), Maszlee Malik (Simpang Renggam), Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu) and Shahruddin Md Salleh (Sri Gading).

In March, Muhyiddin was reported to have said he never wanted to be the prime minister, but had offered himself for the post for the sake of the country.

Muhyiddin said he had initially nominated Mahathir, the party’s former chairman, but the latter and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had both failed to command the majority of the Dewan Rakyat.