THE reforms former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin offered the opposition in exchange for support are back on the table, this time with Ismail Sabri Yaakob, according to DAP’s Tony Pua.

The Damansara MP said he believes the new prime minister is willing to negotiate as he is weak within Umno and will want to stave off challenges from the opposition in Parliament.

This is why Ismail Sabri held a meeting with opposition party heads Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng and Mohamad Sabu even before announcing his new cabinet yesterday, Pua told an online forum.

“We’ve missed the boat with Muhyiddin, now it’s (the reforms) on the table again. Should we take it again? I say we should,” Pua said in the online forum organised by The Oxford and Cambridge Society, the video of which is posted on his Facebook page.

“It won’t be without concessions on their part.

“We must stress that when we do go to meet the PM and we discuss support or abstention during the confidence vote, we want what Muhyiddin had offered to Malaysians, to also be offered to us and Malaysians today.

“If he (Ismail) can do that, and it’s being negotiated right now, if he can offer whatever Muhyiddin has offered – anti-hopping law, limiting the PM’s term, parliamentary reforms – then we are prepared to now offer a ceasefire in order to provide certain stability to the government to carry out these reforms prior to the next general election.

“That’s something we are working on and are quite optimistic.”

Pua told the forum his “biggest fear” after Muhyiddin’s resignation was that Umno, especially those in the “court cluster”, would regain power. This is a reference to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib Razak, who are facing corruption charges.

“If the kleptocrats return to power, it would lead to major damage to the country,” he said.

That was why he had supported the idea that the opposition should have accepted Muhyiddin’s reform promises in exchange for its support.

Pua said Ismail is now in a similar situation as Muhyiddin – a weak majority with the support of 114 (out of 220) MPs.

“He doesn’t want to fall into the same trap or weakness that Muhyiddin faced. So, Ismail Sabri is making the move right at the start – let’s talk to the other side, let’s come to some form of arrangement that will keep me stable and allow me to keep my internal enemies – Najib, Zahid and the court cluster – at bay.”

Pua also believes that Ismail is showing that he wants “chart his own path and sideline the kleptocrats”, as seen in his cabinet line-up.

“Basically, what Ismail Sabri is saying, is that, I’m from Umno, but I’m keeping the same team, so even though you (Zahid) brought down Muhyiddin’s govt, you will have no part in this new government.

“To me, this is significant. We should hook on to it because it is in the interest of Malaysians and in the interest of Pakatan Harapan.”

He said that was why Anwar, Lim and Mohamad had gone to meet Ismail, which was “part of relooking our strategy to keep unwanted people out of the scene, like Najib”.

“It’s something we have to look at to give Pakatan a chance at winning the next general election, and not just about winning, but to have reforms,” he said.

Ismail is an Umno vice-president who led 22 other Umno MPs to break ranks with Zahid’s leadership by maintaining support for Muhyiddin to stay on as prime minister. He was also senior defence minister in Muhyiddin’s cabinet and had been promoted to deputy prime minister in early last month.

Zahid had, on his side, 14 Umno MPs who pulled support from Muhyiddin, causing him to lose majority among lawmakers. 

Muhyiddin resigned as prime minister on August 16, after his promised reforms to the opposition in exchange for its support were rejected. He was due to face a confidence vote in Parliament next month.

Despite the split in Umno over support for Muhyiddin, the party closed ranks and Zahid’s group agreed to support Ismail as the party’s candidate for prime minister.

Political analysts, meanwhile, observe that Ismail’s move to omit the MPs in Zahid’s group from his cabinet, indicates plans to take on the latter for the Umno presidency. – August 28, 2021.