FOUR Bersatu supreme council members last night walked out of a meeting chaired by party president Muhyiddin Yassin after saying that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s removal as a party member was illegal.

The four were Dr Mahathir’s political secretary Abu Bakar Yahya, Tariq Ismail Mustafa, Akhramsyah Muamar Ubaidah Sanusi and Ulya Aqamah Husamuddin.

Bersatu youth information chief Ulya said the walkout was to protest the party’s meeting, which was held at the Persatuan Alumni UM Clubhouse in Jalan Susur Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.

“The four of us left because we are protesting (against Dr Mahathir’s removal). There are two things that we can never accept.

“They are the removal of Dr Mahathir and Bersatu’s alliance with Perikatan Nasional (PN),” he said.

The four left the meeting saying any decision made would be invalid. It is not known what else was discussed.

Party secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin said they will hold a press conference today on what was discussed at the meeting.

Last week, the party issued letters to Dr Mahathir and four others informing them that they had lost their party membership after they joined the opposition bench in Dewan Rakyat on May 18.

The four were were deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun MP), youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muar), supreme council member Maszlee Malik (Simpang Renggam) and Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu).

The “sacked” five disputed their loss of membership, insisting that they are still party members.

The party is divided by infighting involving a faction aligned to Muhyiddin and another group with Dr Mahathir.

Akhramsyah said if they want to remove Dr Mahathir and the other four MPs, it has to be done logically.

“The reason given for their removal was that Dr Mahathir and the four had joined the opposition.

“But the thing is we didn’t agree to join PN. Furthermore, Bersatu does not have any minutes of meeting that stated we had joined PN.

“So how can we punish these five MPs when they decided not to sit with PN in Parliament,” he said.

Akhramsyah said the party should have had a supreme council meeting before the May 18 Parliament sitting to iron out issues between both factions.

“No meeting was called. This issue is very strange because if Dr Mahathir didn’t join the PN side, does it mean all Bersatu MPs will be sacked? Because before this there was no decision to join PN.”

Dr Mahathir resigned as Bersatu chairman after stepping down as prime minister in February after Muhyiddin pulled the party out of the Pakatan Harapan coalition to join forces with Umno, PAS, a splinter group from PKR, and parties from Sabah and Sarawak to form PN.

Bersatu also reportedly rejected the former two-time prime minister’s resignation.

Dr Mahathir, however, has since said he is still the chairman, despite the Registrar of Societies confirming his resignation.

Tonight’s Bersatu supreme council meeting is the second without Dr Mahathir and Mukhriz being invited. – June 5, 2020.