FORMER Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz has admitted collecting 25 statutory declarations (SDs) from Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers in support of Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Speaking to Sinar Harian today, Nazri said that his objective was to oppose Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim who are said to be on their own agenda in collecting SDs to make Anwar the prime minister (PM).

Nazri, however, has denied that they were supporting Hishammuddin to topple the government or replace Muhyiddin Yassin as PM.

The Padang Rengas MP and former Umno supreme council member said the group wanted to show that there were 25 BN MPs who did not support Anwar for PM.

“I can confirm that I have been gathering the SDs (for Hishammuddin) for the past two weeks after the King decided to meet all the political party leaders on June 9.

“Our objective is to show that we have lost confidence in Zahid, who represented Umno when he met the king,” Nazri was quoted as saying in Sinar Harian.

Nazri was responding to Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan who revealed last week that there was a group gathering SDs to take over the government.

According to Nazri, the group had lost confidence in Zahid after the latter showed support letters for Anwar to be PM last September.

He said Zahid had shown support for Anwar without BN MPs’ knowledge.

“As such, we have decided to give our mandate to Hishammuddin to be BN’s spokesperson and to say that we have never and will never support Anwar as PM.

“Once again, I want to stress that we are not planning to change the government or replace Muhyiddin as PM. The SDs have been given to Hishammuddin.

“I’m not sure if the SDs have been presented to the king,” said Nazri.

Meanwhile, Sinar Harian said Anwar had similarly collected 115 votes to support his bid to be PM.

Quoting sources, the Malay daily said the SDs, containing 115 MP signatures, had been presented to the king during their meeting last week.

“I understand that Anwar has presented the SDs from 115 MPs to the king. We were also told that the palace is now verifying the list as there is conflicting support for Hishammuddin and Anwar,” the source told Sinar Harian.

Following the deaths of 2 MPs and a series of defections this year, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is assumed to have 112 votes for confidence and supply in the 222-MP Dewan Rakyat.

But with Umno (35) split between its support for Anwar and Muhyiddin, the Bersatu president may not have sufficient support if parliament convenes.
 
Parliament has been adjourned since December 28 last year and has not held any meetings this year following PN’s declaration of a state of emergency on January 11.

The government is under pressure to convene the parliament as soon as possible following calls from the Agong and Malay rulers. – June 23, 2021.