UMNO ministers were not given a shelling by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for failing to support the government’s bid to declare an emergency, said Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa.

The Umno minister rubbished claims by fellow supreme council member Puad Zakarshi that party ministers were criticised in Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

“This is nonsense. Very untrue,” Annuar tweeted in response to an article by The Malaysian Insight.

Earlier today, Puad said Umno ministers had come under attack for not practising “collective responsibility” in supporting the call for emergency despite the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decision to reject it.

“If there was political honesty, surely the Umno ministers would have not been criticised in the Zoom cabinet meeting last Wednesday.

“Umno became the target as the ministers supported the Agong’s decision to reject the proposal for an emergency.

“They said Umno ministers did not practise collective responsibility,” Puad said in a statement today.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah last Sunday rejected the emergency bid put in by the government after meeting with several other Malay rulers, citing that a state of emergency was not necessary at this point to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Muhyiddin, however, suggested yesterday that an emergency was needed to postpone the Batu Sapi by-election next month and the impending Sarawak polls to avoid another possible Covid-19 spike. – November 1, 2020.