KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said today’s much anticipated third and final vote to pass the government’s Budget 2021 Bill will put the focus on Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

In a Facebook post today, the veteran newsman invited his readers to put themselves in the shoes of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak as both men decide who they should support.

"Muhyiddin has never proven, in a democratic manner, that he has the majority support of the Dewan Rakyat since launching his power grab in February. Anwar has repeatedly claimed that he has ‘strong, formidable and convincing’ support of the House. Mohd Najib and Ahmad Zahid believe they have the numbers to determine who the Prime Minister should be.

"Let me excuse myself from these games of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. So you play their games by putting yourself in Najib's and Zahid's shoes. You can be the kingmaker here. Who would you support in the Parliament — Muhyiddin who is the prime minister or Anwar who wants to be prime minister?

"In Najib's shoes, you're a convicted felon (a label applied by Bernama). You're appealling against your corruption conviction and you have more corruption charges to answer in court. In Zahid's shoes, you are facing 47 criminal charges and could soon be joining Najib's rank.

"Unless you have resigned yourself to spending years in prison, you certainly would consider your option before deciding, who between the two you would throw your lot with,” he said.

Yesterday, in a joint press conference, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno veteran lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah stated that they are cooperating on the same platform and calling for elected representatives to vote based on their conscience.

Both senior statesmen said that the Perikatan Nasional administration under Muhyiddin was weak and "illegitimate”.

Dr Mahathir even went on to claim that the government is now filled with "kleptocrats” and if even three government MPs were to be convicted and subsequently made to serve their prison sentence, then the government would lose its slim parliamentary majority.

Ahmad Zahid, who is a former home minister and current Umno president, is facing 47 charges, namely 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money-laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges.

Najib, however, has been convicted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court for seven charges — covering the offences of criminal breach of trust, power abuse, money laundering — in relation to SRC International’s RM42 million.

The court had sentenced Najib to a 12-year jail term and a fine of RM210 million with an additional five years if the fine is not paid for the power abuse charge, as well as jail terms of 10 years each for each of the six other charges.

Najib is still facing trial on four charges of abusing his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.

He is also being jointly tried with 1MDB’s former chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy for their alleged role in tampering with 1MDB’s final 2016 audit report.