UMNO’S support for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to form a new government will come with conditions and caveats, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

The former prime minister said the Umno leadership would make the same demands of Anwar as they did of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, which was to stop the prosecution of party leaders such as Najib Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“And Umno’s support for Anwar is also conditional even if that is not voiced. Although Anwar has said that he does not have the support of six MPs facing court cases, it is certain that those who support Anwar are loyal to Najib and Ahmad Zahid.

“If the wishes of these two leaders are not met, then they will act as they did with Muhyiddin and withdraw support and bring down the government,” Dr Mahathir said in a statement today.

He said he had previously warned Muhyiddin not to work with Umno leaders en bloc as it would lead to him having to compromise on their corruption cases.

“At the time I made the stand to reject cooperation with Umno because that meant I would have to accept all Umno MPs including those involved in dozens of court cases.

“But Muhyiddin said he was willing to work with Umno en bloc even though he could be blackmailed by Umno if their wishes were not met.”

The 95-year-old politician accused Muhyiddin of deceiving the Agong into thinking he had support in parliament when he merely had the backing of the party leaders.

“Muhyiddin from the very beginning did not have a majority but hid the fact by taking party leaders to see the Agong and making it appear as though there were many of them, without having to specify who were the members of parliament supporting him,” he said.

The Langkawi lawmaker challenged Muhyiddin to prove his numbers first before asking Anwar to prove his.

“The important thing now is to examine whether the prime minister still has a majority to remain in office. Whether Anwar has a majority is secondary.”

The obvious solution is to allow parliament to take a vote of confidence instead of calling for snap polls amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

“I have asked that a vote of no confidence be proposed in parliament to resolve this issue.”

If Muhyiddin manages to win the confidence vote, it will settle once and for all the issue of him lacking majority in parliament, he said.

“If he loses, the members of parliament have the opportunity to propose a new prime minister candidate and whoever gets the majority will be able to lead the government without pressure over legitimacy.” – September 24, 2020.