KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — The five Bersatu MPs whose membership is said to have been annulled by the party leadership last week remain defiant, insisting that the reason given for their termination is against their party constitution.
In a joint statement today, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah and Maszlee Malik said their actions on the May 18 parliamentary sitting as detailed by the letter informing them on their expulsion against Clause 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 of Bersatu’s constitution is invalid as they were denied the chance to defend and explain themselves to the party.
“The reasons given on why we have lost our membership due to sitting at certain seats in Parliament are not mentioned in the Party Constitution.
“We have clearly and completely, on 18.5.2020, during the Dewan Rakyat sitting chose to be in the bloc that did not support Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government because it is the government that betrayed the people’s mandate given to Pakatan Harapan through the 14th General Election.
“We have never declared leaving the party nor ever joined or become a member of any other political party in the country.
“Our choice not to support the Government of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or National Alliance does not mean leaving the party,” they said in a joint statement today.
On May 28, Bersatu’s organising secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya issued letters to the five MPs stating that their party memberships were terminated according to clauses 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 of the party’s constitution.
Muhammad Suhaimi said this was because the five sat in the Opposition bloc during the May 18 parliamentary sitting and not with the Perikatan Nasional coalition led by Muhyiddin.
Clauses 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 state that membership of party members are cancelled if they leave the party or join any other political parties.
On May 30, Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president, appealed to Bersatu members to stay calm.
He said the Bersatu five were not sacked but their membership ceased after they acted against the party’s constitution.
The Bersatu five today also said Muhyiddin and six of the MPs should instead be referred to the party’s disciplinary body for pulling the party out of Pakatan Harapan without the consent of the Supreme Council as they had not made a decision on it.
The statement detailed that the clause explained about the purpose and agenda of Bersatu creation is to “strengthen the agenda combating corruption and abuse of power to create governance practices good governance and good governance, trust and integrity “.
There is no charge against us doing anything that contradicts the party agenda.
“The party’s constitution is also made in line with the Rule of Law. No one is above it. All party members are entitled to the party.
“Tan Sri Muhyiddin and the six other MPs’ action of stating that (Bersatu) has left Pakatan Harapan clearly broke the party constitution as there is no decision to leave Pakatan Harapan by the Supreme Council.
“So, Tan Sri Muhyiddin and six other MPs have violated the party’s ethics and should be brought to the disciplinary body,” said the statement.
Dr Mahathir today denied making any agreement for Bersatu to leave the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, saying he had no reason to reject the coalition despite allegations that it was controlled by the DAP.
Dr Mahathir asserted that PH could not have been controlled by DAP as he, as the prime minister, would not have allowed it.
On February 24, Muhyiddin announced that the Bersatu supreme council meeting a day before had decided to leave the coalition along with 11 former PKR MPs.
It was also the day Dr Mahathir resigned as both prime minister and Bersatu president though the party then rescinded it.
Since then, at least three audio clips about the February 23 meeting have leaked online. A voice sounding like Dr Mahathir can be heard saying Bersatu should have more time before deciding to leave PH.
