KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki today explained that his party decided to withdraw support for the Perikatan Nasional government last night as Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin failed to fulfill all six conditions the party had set prior to joining forces.
He said out of the six conditions Umno had set before agreeing to support the PN government, only one has been met so far.
“Umno had in its Supreme Council meeting on March 11, 2020 put in place three guidelines and six conditions for Muhyiddin’s immediate action, as a condition for Umno’s support for him.
“Unfortunately, only one was fulfilled,” he said in a Facebook post today.
The six conditions are: to set up a Royal Commission Inquiry into Tabung Haji, immediately reopen the probe into firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s death, reopen all criminal cases which were withdrawn during Pakatan Harapan’s time, stop policies allowing sale of the country’s strategic assets, stop a policy on reducing the number of civil servants in the workforce and to remove the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill.
Asyraf was likely referring to the removal of the IPCMC Bill from the Standing Order during the last Parliament sitting, and which has since been replaced by the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) Bill 2020, as the only condition that has been met.
At the same time, Asyraf said Umno has previously stated its stand on PN being registered as a political party during a meeting between all political bureaus in Umno and the prime minister in June 2020.
“But it was ignored, and quietly on July 28, 2020, Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) set up the PN Party Sponsor Committee and lured Muafakat Nasional’s partner, PAS and also MIC (Barisan Nasional’s component party before it withdrew on August 27, 2020),” he said.
He added that the appointment of a deputy prime minister recently also was not referred to Umno, when the prime minister clearly knows Umno’s stand during its supreme council meeting, which decided that it will not agree to any offers for a deputy prime minister post.
“Although the prime minister has absolute power, but as a partner in forming the government, he should have referred this offer (deputy prime minister’s appointment) to the party before he nominated anyone,” he said.
Apart from the six conditions, the Umno supreme council had also laid out two key guidelines which the PN government must meet, including to fulfill the aspirations of the people and put in place an effective plan to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Based on the guidelines, the prime minister has failed to fulfill all of the people’s hopes and demands,” he said.
Since the turn of events last night, there have been calls for Muhyiddin to step down as prime minister.
However, if he fails to do so, Asyraf said Muhyiddin’s position will be determined when the state of Emergency ends on August 1 and Parliament resumes.
“The Umno president has already voiced that he will not be part of the nominees as prime minister as he focuses on clearing his name in court, and will suggest a few names which will then be decided by the supreme council.
“Umno does not lack leaders and this includes Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, and many more who have vast experience,” he said.
On a possible general election, Asyraf said since it cannot take place at the moment and suggested for a temporary prime minister to helm the country for a period of six months to a year depending on the Covid-19 situation.
“If herd immunity is achieved, 80 to 90 per cent of the people will be in a safe environment for a general election to be held,” he said.
