HAVING an interim prime minister from Pejuang is not the priority now as the party wants to help the country combat and overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, said its  chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The two-time former prime minister said that with the country reporting daily high cases and almost reporting almost 100 deaths every day, he said the top priority was on ways to curb the transmission of the virus.

“Our priority now is to tackle the pandemic. That is what is important to us,” the Langkawi MP told a virtual press conference today, responding to a question if he would offer his services to be the interim prime minister.

Last night, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the party had withdrawn its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin with immediate effect.

Zahid said the Perikatan Nasional (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 interim prime minister should be appointed until the country tackles the Covid-19 pandemic and achieves herd immunity through vaccination.

Umno has 38 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, while four seats are held by its other Barisan Nasional component parties – MCA has two seats while MIC and PBRS have one seat each.

Dr Mahathir also lashed out at politicians, saying that everyone was interested in becoming the prime minister for their own personal gains rather than serving the people.

“Everybody wants to become prime minister.

“All they care about is how much money they will get. They are not interested in serving (the people and country) and they are not interested in tackling the problems faced by the people,” he said, without referring to any names.

Dr Mahathir also took a dig at Attorney-General Idrus Harun over his statement that Muhyiddin remains the prime minister by law until and unless another MP can prove he or she has majority support of the Dewan Rakyat.

He said that laws these days were interpreted according to discretion instead of being in accordance with the law. He added that laws were being applied inconsistently.

“Idrus said that Umno’s announcement could not determine Muhyiddin’s majority as it must be done by lawmakers.

“But when Muhyiddin first came to power last year, he only claimed that he had the majority and he too didn’t get the consent from all MPs, particularly from Bersatu where six of us didn’t support him.

“Muhyiddin claimed he was accepted and appointed as the prime minister, but now a party president said the party has revoked its support but this cannot be accepted,” he said, adding that he was one of the six. – July 8, 2021.