BERSATU may be forced to return to Pakatan Harapan after Umno and PAS ditched the party yesterday after declaring they wanted fresh elections following the political crisis in the country.
Sources told The Malaysian Insight this has thrown into disarray Bersatu’s move to form a new government with Umno and PAS.
Umno and PAS said at a joint press conference yesterday they have rejected Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s offer to form a cross-party cabinet. Leaders of both parties instead told the Yang di-Pertuan Agong that they wanted fresh elections.
The king yesterday interviewed 90 parliamentarians as part of the process to determine a new government. The MPs were asked to state their choice of candidate for prime minister, or if Parliament should be dissolved.
This came about after Dr Mahathir resigned as prime minister on Monday.
On the same day, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin pulled the party out of the PH coalition.
The call by Umno and PAS for fresh elections means that Bersatu, which has been looking to form a new government with both opposition parties, no longer has any partner.
And with Umno and PAS out of the picture, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Warisan are unlikely to team up with Bersatu either as neither has enough MPs to form a new government.
A Bersatu source told The Malaysian Insight that the only solution left is for the party to go back to PH after leaving it on Monday.
“We can still bury the hatchet as Dr Mahathir is still the Pakatan chairman and the parties have pledged to support him as prime minister.
“This can still happen if the leaders return to Friday’s presidential council meeting where it was decided that Dr Mahathir will be prime minister until the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in November,” said the source.
He added that it was not in PH’s or Bersatu’s interest to have fresh elections as that would be a costly affair.
“If we can go back to that (decision at Friday’s meeting), we can still fulfil many of the manifesto promises made before GE14.”
Meanwhile, a PH leader who attended last night’s presidential council meeting said the issue was not discussed, adding that PH is not against the idea.
“But we can only discuss this when there’s something concrete,” said the leader.
PH held its first presidential council meeting at the PKR headquarters last night following Monday’s events.
But leaders, such as Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Gobind Singh, Mohamad Sabu and Salahuddin Ayub left the premises immediately without making any statement. – February 26, 2020.
Comments
Posted 4 years ago by Lucky Boy · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by James Wong · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Simple Sulaiman · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Citizen Pencen · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Rupert Lum · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Elyse Gim · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Wei Kuan Tan · Reply
Posted 4 years ago by Jan Jinz · Reply