PAROI, Aug 1 — An Umno supreme council member claimed today that the removal of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from the federal Cabinet has not affected support for the party in its Johor bastion.

Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi, who is the director of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry’s Department of Special Affairs (JASA), said Johoreans were used to seeing their top leaders being ousted.

“Johor people have faced the situation when Tun Musa Hitam resigned from the DPM (deputy prime minister) post before.

“Even when (Umno founder) Datuk Onn Jaafar resigned as Umno president for having conflicting views with others. Johor people are used to it. There is no Johor sentiment,” he told reporters at the Seremban Umno division meeting today.

The former Batu Pahat MP stressed that even when former prime ministers Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn sacked Johor ministers, there was no chaos.

Puad went on to point out that Muhyiddin was not sacked by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak but was part of a Cabinet reshuffle “following the Westminster system”.

“This is not a sacking, rather a reshuffling so that the Cabinet can work together as a team,” he said.

As Muhyiddin still remains Umno’s deputy president, it is unnecessary to resort to drastic measures like withdrawing invitations to attend official events as done in places like Tanjung Malim, Perak and Raub, Pahang, Puad added.

“Tan Sri Muhyiddin is still the deputy president. What is the problem if you are inviting him? Nobody can tell him off,” he said.

Muhyiddin was axed from the Cabinet in a sudden reshuffle by Najib on Tuesday.

Many have insinuated that the leader’s sudden removal was the result of a speech he gave to Ummo members in Cheras questioning 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and Najib’s alleged involvement in the state owned fund.