UMNO as a bigger party than Bersatu must not “pawn off” the prime minister’s post in the next general election, said supreme council member Dr Puad Zakarshi.

The Johor Umno stalwart said it was odd his supreme council colleague Annuar Musa and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had endorsed Bersatu president and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to lead the alliance through GE15 and retain his position.

“It is very strange that Hadi and Annuar suggested Muhyiddin as prime minister candidate for GE15.

“(Their) suggestion is akin to saying that the post of prime minister is something that can be pawned off,” Puad wrote on Facebook today.

The former Batu Pahat MP said Umno should learn from the mistakes of PKR and DAP, which were also bigger parties than Bersatu when it was in Pakatan Harapan.

“Bigger parties like PKR and DAP pawned the prime minister post for Bersatu. In the end, they themselves got pawned off.”

Puad also said Umno had traded more than it should have when other politicians who defected to Bersatu during the recent change in government were rewarded with ministerial positions as well as development allocations.

“Umno needs to be reminded that the consensus of the supreme council as well as the view of its members (on the candidate for prime minister) must be respected.

“Major decisions like this must get the approval from members. Don’t let what happened to Pakatan Harapan happen to Muafakat Nasional,” he said.

Muafakat Nasional is the political pact Umno and PAS have signed and does not include Bersatu.

Meanwhile, Hadi and Annuar’s support for Muhyiddin as prime minister for GE15 were made in separate statements and was not in any formal statement issued by Muafakat Nasional.

Since their statements three days ago, various Umno leaders have voiced disagreement or caution over the rush to endorse Muhyiddin.

Puad also highlighted that Umno and PAS together had almost 5 million members, whereas Bersatu’s membership did not even reach 100,000.

Various political analysts have commented recently that Bersatu would not be able to survive a general election on its own without Umno and PAS’s support.

However, Muhyiddin’s personal popularity is good at the moment, given his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. – July 5, 2020.