Dr M: Bersatu’s decision to leave PH and partner with corruption-tainted party is why I quit as PM

KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has explained that he decided to quit as Prime Minister in late February, because the party he had founded — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) — insisted on leaving the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to ally with a defeated party that was tainted with corruption allegations.

In a video clip posted on his official Facebook page last night, Dr Mahathir said he found that many still did not understand why he had quit on February 24.

“Actually, I resigned as my own party rejected me... they made a decision that was in contradiction to the advice from me, which means the party had lost its confidence in me.

“In that situation, I could not remain as the chairman of the Bersatu party. That is the reason why, because of my own party’s action,” he said in the video clip just under six minutes long.

In recounting the events that he said led to his resignation, Dr Mahathir said that he had on February 21 (Friday) received the full support of PH in its presidential council meeting for him to decide unanimously on when he would relinquish his post as prime minister.

Dr Mahathir, who was then also PPBM and PH chairman, said he found that PPBM’s proposal to pull out from PH was without basis as he had the full support of the coalition, adding that he had told this to PPBM president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin previously. 

“I told Muhyiddin, as I am given full support, what is the reason for me to pull out from Pakatan Harapan. If there are other reasons, wait lah, if there are other reasons, I will withdraw from Pakatan Harapan.

“But he was of the opinion that we have to pull out from Pakatan Harapan today itself, said that if we don’t pull out, the Malays will be destroyed by DAP.

“I don’t believe that DAP would be able to destroy the Malays that easily. That’s why I said, wait, let us take a bit of time, think deeply about the move to pull out from Pakatan Harapan.

“Because Pakatan Harapan is the party that we won the election with and we, together with Pakatan Harapan — with their support — we obtained victory. It can’t be that suddenly we want to reject, want to cooperate with the defeated party... a party involved with corruption, stealing of money and others. We reject the party, we enter with this party that was defeated, and this party chaired by Najib will become (the) government,” he added, without directly naming the party tainted with corruption.

At the same time however, the video showed news reports of Umno leaders’ corruption trials, as well as a news clip of Datuk Seri Najib Razak announcing his decision to give up both his positions as Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman after the BN coalition was defeated in the May 9, 2018 general elections by the PH coalition.

In the same video, Dr Mahathir said his advice was not heeded by his own party leaders.

“They did not heed my views, they left Pakatan Harapan. I thought deeply and I thought that if my party rejected me, I have to resign from my position. That is why I resigned from my positions as Pakatan Harapan chairman and subsequently as prime minister,” he said.

PPBM had said it had decided in a February 23 meeting to leave PH.

On February 24, PPBM announced its pullout from PH that resulted in the PH coalition losing the parliamentary majority needed to form the government, while Dr Mahathir on the same day announced his resignation as PPBM chairman and as prime minister.

Dr Mahathir further said he did not return as PH chairman subsequently, but returned as PPBM chairman.

“Although later after that, many came to me, asked me to return to being chairman. I returned as Bersatu party’s chairman, but not as chairman of Pakatan Harapan as we already pulled out from Pakatan Harapan and Pakatan Harapan had already collapsed due to our move in pulling out from Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

Before the video showed Dr Mahathir’s explanation of his February resignations, clips were shown tracing prior key moments in history, such as the electoral reform group Bersih 2.0’s protests, his decision to quit Umno, the initiating of the Deklarasi Rakyat, and his announcement that PPBM would be formed as a new party.

On February 26, Dr Mahathir had also explained his decision to resign as prime minister.

Malaysia was in a political crisis in late February after the PH administration ceased that had even resulted in Istana Negara seeking to help identify the MP that was likely to command the confidence of the majority of MPs, with Muhyiddin eventually sworn in as the country’s eighth prime minister on March 1.

Dr Mahathir’s video came amid rumours that both he and his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir would be sacked from their positions as PPBM chairman and deputy president respectively.

But the PPBM supreme council meeting scheduled for today — which had omitted Dr Mahathir and Mukhriz from the invite sent out — has reportedly been called off.