KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — Umno’s announced review of its support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) required the party’s ministers to declare if they still supported the coalition, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.
The Johor Umno deputy chairman and former deputy home minister said it was not tenable for the party’s leaders to still be part of a government that the party did not fully support.
On Tuesday, Umno secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Maslan announced that the party would reconsider its continued support to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s PN coalition.
“They (the Umno MPs in government) must state their stand on whether they want to remain with PN or abide by the party’s decision,” he said in a Sinar Harian report.
“Maybe before this Umno’s MPS in the PN government could make excuses or keep quiet about the conflict between Umno and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) because there was no official decision from the party leadership.”
Umno is not a member of PN but offers support on matters to supply and confidence to the coalition government and several of its leaders are also members of Muhyiddin’s Cabinet.
Nur Jazlan concluded that Ahmad Maslan’s statement meant that the support of the party’s lawmakers for the coalition government was effectively revoked.
Muhyiddin’s majority has never been officially established but is placed at 113 lawmakers — including 39 from Umno — in the 222-seat Parliament or just over the absolute minimum of 112 needed for a simple majority.
