FORMER prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that he was not a vindictive person as he personally suggested an Umno man should replace him for the top post after losing majority support in Parliament.

Muhyiddin said despite having a choice to dissolve the government and call for fresh elections, he went against that option and, instead, nominated Umno’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the next prime minister.

He said one of the reasons was that he did not want the opposition, led by Pakatan Harapan, to come back into power.

“I took an unusual step. Umno was the one who toppled me, yet, I suggested Ismail Sabri to be nominated as PM.

“Why? To save our country. We are not ready for our country to fall into the hands of Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, or (Lim) Guan Eng.

“So, I willingly nominated Ismail Sabri and he got support, including Umno members (who did not support me), and he was chosen to be PM,” the Perikatan Nasional chairman said at a ceramah held in the run-up to the Malacca elections.

The Bersatu chairman said that despite Umno playing out Bersatu at the federal level and also at state, he is not seeking revenge.

Muhyiddin said he could easily make the Umno-led state government of Johor collapse but claimed that he would not pull the same trick as what was done by the oldest Malay party.

Muhyiddin said he would not succumb to a disastrous decision as he put the priority and the safety of the people first.

“What happened in Perak? (Ahmad Faizal Azumu) Peja became MB, but was overthrown even though there was an understanding between Umno under Zahid (Hamidi).

“Initially, in Malacca, Umno took over, but they promised earlier to hand it over to Bersatu. Nevertheless, Umno took control, now it fell.

“If I’m only concerned about my party, in the state of Johor, Bersatu has 14 seats, Umno and MIC have 15 seats, a total of 29 seats. PH has 27 seats. So, the majority is only two seats.

“If I was malicious and looking only for our political interest, I could do the same for the state of Johor just by getting two assemblymen out and making the current Johor government collapse.

“But I don’t want to act stupid and have bad intentions to create the same problem in Johor. Not because it is my state but to preserve the welfare and interests of the people,” Muhyiddin added. – November 12, 2021.