UMNO MPs heckled former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as he spoke in Parliament, accusing him of causing the Dewan Rakyat speaker to be replaced.

They said speaker Mohd Ariff Mohd Yusof would not  have been replaced if Dr Mahathir did not quit as prime minister in February.

“All this happened because of Tun, because of Langkawi who quit. That’s why there is a change in the speaker.

“We BN, PAS, GPS were asked to support Tun as the prime minister but unfortunately Tun resigned so we were forced to choose someone else.

“When Tun quit, we had no choice but to choose Pagoh (Muhyiddin) as prime minister,” Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) said referring to Dr Mahathir by his honorific.

Dr Mahathir took the floor to debate the motion to remove speaker Ariff.

The motion was approved with a very slim majority of 111 in favour and 109 against.

Former Election Commission chairman Azhar Azizan Harun took over as the new speaker in the afternoon.

Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) interjected that he, too, wanted Dr Mahathir as prime minister.

“We wanted Tun but he decided to resign so just accept it. A new government has been formed, there is nothing wrong.

“Last time when Tun appointed Latheefa Koya to the MACC and Tommy Thomas as (attorney-general), we did not question it either.

“The prime minister just wants a speaker who is in line with the government in the interest of the people,” he said.

Dr Mahathir took the heckling in his stride.

He told them that Umno has been hijacked and, therefore, he could not work with the party he had led for 22 years.

“I choose who I want to cooperate with. When given the choice to cooperate with Umno, Umno is not the same Umno that was founded.

“It has been hijacked by certain people. Therefore, I cannot cooperate with Umno,” said the Langkawi MP.

Bung Mokhtar shot back that Umno members were following Dr Mahathir’s example when he led the party.

“You taught us how to run Umno. We follow Tun’s teaching,” he said. – July 13, 2020.