UMNO made the right call in withdrawing its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and putting forward its proposal of interim administration to resolve the current health and economical crises, said former prime minister Najib Razak.

According to Najib, the rakyat would have continued to suffer if Umno had not come to such a decision to revoke its support for Muhyiddin.

“I think that the decision by Umno Supreme Council to withdraw the party’s support from Muhyiddin (and not withdraw support from the Perikatan Nasional government) – to give way for an interim administration with a fixed term and goals to resolve Covid-19 crisis, helping with the welfare of the people and to achieve herd immunity through vaccination before dissolving Parliament to return the mandate to the people – is the right decision.

“It is not only the most appropriate decision but also the only option for the betterment of the people and the country in the short- and long-term,” the Pekan MP said in a Facebook post today.

Last night, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the party had withdrawn its support for Muhyiddin with immediate effect.

Zahid said the PN government has failed to fulfil the conditions presented by the Supreme Council on March 11, 2020, days after Muhyiddin was appointed as the prime minister, following political turmoil.

Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said a new prime minister should be appointed until the country tackles the Covid-19 pandemic and achieves herd immunity through vaccination.

However, he did not propose a replacement for Muhyiddin, just reaffirmed the party’s position – decided at the Umno general assembly this year – that it would never support any attempts to nominate opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as the prime minister or support the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

Najib said that Umno revoking its support for Muhyiddin and not the PN government fulfils the wishes of the Malay rulers, where last month they said that there was a need for a stable government that has the confidence and support of the rakyat.

“This problem cannot be solved by replacing a backdoor government with a slim majority built on betrayal and traitors with another unstable backdoor government with a thin majority, built on betrayal and traitors.

“Therefore, the new interim government should have a limited period with clear goals. It cannot exceed three to six months because it is also a backdoor government with a slim majority, which is not the choice of the people,” he said.

With less than two years before the 15th general election and before the Parliament dissolves itself, Najib said that Umno and BN are not afraid of facing the rakyat when the time comes.

He said PN and Pakatan Harapan also should not be afraid of facing the people, if they have the confidence of winning their support.

“If PN and PH believe they have strong support from the people and feel their performance when they ruled was proven to be good, then they also need not be afraid to face the people when the time comes,” he said. – July 8, 2021.