KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has agreed in principle to support Perikatan Nasional (PN) for the six state elections in August, coalition chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The former PM said he met with his immediate predecessor in a “respectful and cordial” meeting yesterday, during which they came to the agreement.
“We spoke at length about the position and future of the Malays without going into specifics about the Malay Proclamation.
“In principle we have agreed to strengthen the unity of Malays and to increase support for PN for the upcoming state elections in six states,” Muhyiddin said in a Facebook post.
Twice former prime minister Dr Mahathir has claimed the Malays “lost everything” after he resigned following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in February 2020, which was partly engineered by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia that he and Muhyiddin co-founded.
Muhyddin was also the PM replacing Dr Mahathir, who was then expelled from Bersatu shortly after.
Dr Mahathir began pushing his “Malay Proclamation” earlier this year, after losing his deposit during the 15th general election, and has sought to hold a gathering to rally the community into realising the issues they are facing.
He has accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration of bias against the Malays by discouraging talks about race and religion and sought to contest.
In April, Dr Mahathir began making overtures towards Islamist party PAS, a partner to Bersatu in the PN coalition, before saying last month that he would be willing to work with Muhyiddin if they could find common ground after their previous falling out.
