PARTI Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Muhyiddin Yassin said his buka puasa programmes this Ramadan would continue despite him being barred from using a mosque in Johor.

He said he had been informed that he could not organise Ramadan programmes within the premises of the An Nur mosque in Kundang Ulu town, Tangkak.

“We had annual buka puasa events and ceremonies to present contributions at mosques in the past. That had been the practice since I became MP in Pagoh.

“We are not allowed to continue this tradition this year, but I want to continue. We will find other venues for these programmes.

“We have many Bersatu members in Johor, and many have offered their premises,” he told reporters at a buka puasa event at Pulau Betong’s Ar Raudah Mosque in Penang.

Muhyiddin said he was impressed by how things were done in Penang, where everyone was allowed to use mosques during the holy month.

“In Penang, the mosques are open to all, regardless of politics. Mosques here are used as premises to promote unity,” he said.

Also present at the buka puasa event was Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and other Pakatan Harapan leaders.

Muhyiddin was asked to comment on being barred from using the mosque in his home state of Johor even though he had already planned a buka puasa event there.

The Tangkak district Qadi’s office informed Muhyiddin’s service centre of the decision yesterday by fax, saying that he had not obtained the mosque committee’s permission.

On reports that about 1,000 Bersatu members in Perak had quit the party as calls for him to step down have been ignored, Muhyiddin said he was waiting to see the exodus.

“I am waiting to see the alleged one thousand members quit the party,” the former deputy prime minister said of the group led by Ipoh Timur Division chief sponsor Azrul Suhadi Ahmad Mokhtar.

Muhyiddin said those who have quit are numbered in the dozens, not thousands, and might have simply been disgruntled members who inflated the numbers to seek publicity.

“Some members might had been unhappy with decision made by the party leadership, not just with me but with other leaders as well, to appoint state chairman Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

“I know who is behind it, but it is not appropriate for me to name him.

“But to me, this episode does not jeopardise the party because it only involves one or two divisions. Perak has 20 divisions, I think, and the rest are intact,” he told reporters.

Muhyiddin has recently come under fire from Bersatu members in Perak, who wanted him to quit for allegedly failing to fulfil his responsibilities and using party chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s influence to appoint his own people in prominent positions.

Unperturbed by the resignations, Muhyiddin said it was alright of there were people unprepared to struggle with Bersatu.

“In any party, you cannot go with what you want yourself when the central leadership has decided.

“But they have the right to make their own decisions… I don’t see a problem. It is common in any party to have one or two like this,” he said. – June 1, 2017.