KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Umno veteran Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad claimed that PAS and its president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang are attempting to topple the unity government for their advantage.

The former Johor Baru MP urged government leaders to be wary of Abdul Hadi’s latest warning that the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will fall.

Shahrir alleged that this was because PAS was instrumental in the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad back in 2020.

"Now once again PAS is starting to take steps to topple the unity government and reinstate a PAS-sponsored government.

"It worked once before. So, (they will) try again for a second time. Hadi has already warned in early March 2023. So, wait and see,” said Shahrir in a Facebook posting.

He was commenting on a news report on March 1 where Abdul Hadi said he expects the current government led by Anwar to fall in the near future.

However, the Marang MP did not offer details on how the fall of the unity government will happen.

Shahrir also recalled the PAS leader’s meeting with Dr Mahathir on several occasions, prior to the fall of the PH government.

He said the first was during the Semenyih state by-election in February 2019, where Abdul Hadi had met Mahathir who was then PH’s prime minister.

"After two meetings with Dr Mahathir, Abdul Hadi issued a statement supporting the former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman as prime minister until the end of the 14th parliamentary term,” he said.

Shortly after that, Shahrir added that six Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs, without Umno’s knowledge, had also declared their same support for Dr Mahathir.

"Their statements were made before the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election.

"These two declarations of support were the early stages of the "Sheraton Move” where PAS and a group of Umno-BN MPs supported Dr Mahathir as prime minister,” he said.

The "Sheraton Move” was a clandestine plan, called due to the gathering of lawmakers at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, just before the PH administration collapsed in February 2020.

At that time, several prominent factions within PH had a clandestine meeting with leaders of the then Opposition BN that subsequently led to the formation of a new government under Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in March.