Two Sabah Umno MPs expected to join in retracting support for Perikatan

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 4 — Two Sabah Umno MPs are expected to join the list of lawmakers from their party in withdrawing their support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

Sources told Malay Mail that Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Moktar Radin and Kimanis MP Datuk Mohamad Alamin will likely follow the party’s leadership decision to officially pull back their support for the federal government.

“He (Bung Moktar) has repeatedly stated that the Sabah Umno was with the party's supreme council decision announced by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Sabah Umno has not changed its stance here,” said the source.

He said that the decision not to publicly make a stance this time was deliberate, but the necessary statutory declarations have been signed in support of the party president's decision.

Although Bung, who is Sabah Umno chief, has not yet made his stance public since party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement yesterday evening, he has consistently reiterated Sabah Umno’s stand that it will abide by the party’s decision.

Earlier last month, he said that he and Mohamad Alamin would move with the party’s decision to pull back its support for the PN government and to push for a new prime minister.

However Sabah Umno will also continue to be with the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah state government, which is a loose coalition of PN, Barisan Nasional and Parti Bersatu Sabah.

Bung has also repeatedly reiterated his stand to maintain ties with GRS to respect the people's mandate following the September 2020 state polls.

Yesterday, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he had an “adequate” number of SDs signed by Umno MPs who have retracted their support for Muhyiddin as prime minister.

There were 10 Umno MPs present. Elaborating further, he said there were a few MPs who could not be present because of other engagements, “for example in Sabah,” he had said.

Muhyiddin, in response, said only eight MPs had retracted their support for him and he would table a motion of confidence when Parliament reconvenes next month.