KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had last Wednesday presented a list of 14 Umno MPs to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, to inform the King of their signed statutory declarations to withdraw support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, documents released by Umno showed.

Through its party mouthpiece Umno Online’s website, Umno today confirmed two letters that Ahmad Zahid had written on July 30 and August 4 to the Agong.

In the August 4 letter to the Agong, Ahmad Zahid had listed the names of the 14 Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs including himself which he said had signed the statutory declarations to retract support for Muhyiddin and PN.

“I wish to confirm that none of these MPs retracted the statutory declarations that had been presented to KDYMM Seri Paduka Baginda,” he said.

“With this, I verify the fourteen (14) MPs that have been fully legitimised,” he said.

Although Ahmad Zahid had listed 14 names, only 13 copies of signed statutory declarations were uploaded by Umno Online on its website and Facebook page.

There was no signed statutory declaration by Gua Musang MP Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was in the list of 14 names.

However, Ahmad Zahid had in the list added a note below Tengku Razaleigh’s name, stating that the latter had never signed a statutory declaration to support Mahiaddin Md Yasin (Muhyiddin’s actual name) and that he had previously applied to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker to change seatings in the lower house of Parliament.

The 14 names are Ahmad Zahid, Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, Lenggong MP Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, Pengerang MP Datuk Azalina Othman Said, Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, Machang MP Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub, Parit MP Datuk Mohd Nizar Zakaria, Jerantut MP Datuk Ahmad Nazlan Idris, Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Mohd Nor, Kimanis MP Datuk Mohamad Alamin, Tanjung Karang MP Tan Sri Noh Omar and Tengku Razaleigh.

The dates of the 13 signed statutory declarations ranged from July 29 to August 3.

Bung Moktar’s statutory declaration was the only one dated July 29, while the ones dated July 30 were signed by 11 MPs namely Ahmad Zahid, Najib, Ahmad Maslan, Azalina, Ahmad Jazlan, Mohd Nizar, Ahmad Nazlan, Ramli, Mohamad, Noh.

Two separate statutory declarations dated August 3 were signed by Shamsul Anuar and Abdul Azeez respectively.

Out of the 13 signed statutory declarations addressed to the Agong, 10 of them were identical, where each Barisan Nasional MP identified themselves and their parliamentary constituency, and swore that they were retracting their support to “Mahiaddin” as prime minister with immediate effect, in line with Umno’s supreme council decision on July 7.

The two July 30 statutory declarations by Kimanis MP Mohamad and Tanjung Karang MP Noh however contained an additional line to say that they still supported the PN government in line with the party’s decision.

Azalina’s July 30 statutory declaration also carried the additional line to say she still supported the PN government in line with the party’s decision, and further carried the line that this was subject to her stepping down as the Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker under the Dewan Rakyat’s standing order six.

In Ahmad Zahid’s letter dated July 30, he had told the Agong that the letter was to notify and present statutory declarations from Umno MPs that had withdrawn support for Muhyiddin as prime minister immediately, and said he would present additional statutory declarations when granted an audience to meet the King.

As for Ahmad Zahid’s second letter dated August 3, he had said the main purpose of the letter was to present the additional statutory declarations to the King.