Umno’s Puad Zarkashi dares Muda to carry out its threat to withdraw support for unity govt

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman should just go ahead and withdraw support from his Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) for the Anwar unity government instead of just threatening to do so, Umno supreme council member Datuk Puad Zarkashi said today.

Puad, who is also a Johor state lawmaker, said the Muda president’s threat in the wake of the High Court discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was a mere bluff to disguise its failure at being accepted into the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

“Muda does not need to give any warning of pulling their support. Just go ahead and do it if they really dare to,” Puad said in a Facebook post.

He said that the party was already unofficially out of the unity government by contesting against the PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance in the six state elections last month.

He also pointed out that all the Muda candidates had lost their election deposits in the August 12 polls.

Puad challenged Syed Saddiq to resign from his Muar parliamentary seat instead of threatening to break the unity government’s two-thirds majority in Parliament.

“Instead of threatening the government of losing its two-third support, Saddiq should just resign. Could Muar and Puteri Wangsa win without Pakatan Harapan’s support?

“Of course, they wouldn’t dare. It’s just threats,” the Rengit assemblyman said.

Zahid, who is also Umno president, was discharged from 47 charges of dishonestly misappropriating RM31 million belonging to a charitable organisation he founded called Yayasan Akalbudi two days ago.

The DNAA was condemned by many political observers and civil society groups.

Umno’s current allies, including the DAP, have asked the attorney general (AG) to explain the prosecution’s move to discontinue the trial.

Following this, Syed Saddiq and Muda secretary-general Amir Hadi have said they would not hesitate to withdraw their party’s support for the unity government if the AG did not give a proper explanation.

Syed Saddiq also said Muda will campaign and hold street demonstrations if its demands are not met, while Amir declared that the DNAA to be “the biggest red line” that has been crossed.

In a statement posted on her Facebook account today, Muda deputy president Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz echoed her party colleague’s criticism about the DNAA.

The Puteri Wangsa assemblyman said that the Madani government needs to prove its anti-corruption stance through action and not just in words.

“Is this the Malaysia that we want? Can Malaysia prosper if we keep dropping every elite politician's corruption cases?” she asked.

She urged voters to demand their elected representatives to announce their personal stance on Zahid’s DNAA, saying the Attorney General’s Chambers' reply to public criticism yesterday was “a non-responsive answer.”

“Can the rakyat be blamed for raising questions and concerns over the AGC's application? Of course not. We went to the ballot box in GE14 and GE15 to get rid of corruption, mismanagement, and hold people in power accountable — not to get rid of corruption cases,” she said.

Voters in Pulai and Simpang Jeram in Johor will be casting their ballots for the parliamentary seat and state assembly seat respectively in twin by-elections this Saturday.