KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today he does not mind being labelled a "traitor”, claiming the decisions he made were for the sake of religion, race and country.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman who left Umno to form Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and later took his party out of Pakatan Harapan (PH) to collude with Umno, said he did so as the situations did not align with his political beliefs.

"I was ‘kicked out’ as deputy prime minister and Umno just for making a remark about the 1MDB scandal, which is the biggest ‘robbery’ in the country’s history, thus tarnishing Malaysia’s good name in the eyes of the world. Nevermind. Maybe God didn’t want me to be with evil people.

"I also left Pakatan Harapan because I could not stand the demands of DAP and PKR which were not very appropriate and contradicted the demands of religion, nation and country.

"I don’t mind being accused of being a traitor because I can’t betray the race, religion and country,” he added in a statement.

He did not elaborate on his accusations against former allies PKR and DAP.

In 2016, Muhyiddin was sacked from Umno alongside other Supreme Council members for disagreeing with then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s involvement in the multimillion-ringgit 1MDB scandal.

He then started Bersatu with, among others Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and joined hands with PH to win the previous general election (GE14).

In February 2020, Bersatu alongside a few lawmakers from PKR including Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Datuk Seri Zuraida Kamaruddin defected from PH and formed the PN administration with former political enemies Umno and PAS.

Muhyiddin has since said that Umno is now his party’s "main enemy”, leading Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to accuse him of trickery and warn Barisan Nasional MPs to be wary of Muhyiddin’s treachery.