KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has insisted that the party’s chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pleaded against the proposal to abandon the Pakatan Harapan (PH) during its Supreme Council meeting on February 23.

Responding to an audio clip leaked and uploaded today on the "Bersatu sokong Tun Mahtahir” Facebook page, the Armada leader claimed that the audio clip is a "blatant lie” and demanded his party’s Supreme Council to reveal the full audio recording of the meeting.

"This is a blatant lie. I was in the meeting. Tun M pleaded three times to not leave PH,” he posted on Twitter.

Syed Saddiq said in his final plea, Dr Mahathir had even urged the party to not force him to betray his principles.

"I suggest MPT show the full audio recording which will prove how Tun pleaded to not leave,” he added, using the Malay initials for the council.

The clip in which Dr Mahathir was heard attempting to delay his own party’s exit from PH was released today, seemingly timed with a statement from top Bersatu leaders insisting that the party had made the decision in the abovementioned meeting.

The statement also touched on how Bersatu as a party is fully behind the formation of Perikatan Nasional (PN) as a coalition aimed at achieving the goals and objectives set by PN’s memorandum of understanding.

It noted how Bersatu agreed to form an alliance with other parties to form PN for the betterment of the people and country’s political stability, while declaring its undivided support for the PN government led by Bersatu’s president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Among the 27 signees of today’s statement were Bersatu vice-presidents Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman and Datuk Abdul Rashid Ansari, secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, treasurer Datuk Muhamed Salleh Bajuri and information chief Mohd Radzi Jidin, along with 21 other state and supplement council members.

Other notable names were Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun, Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Tan Sri Rais Yatim, Datuk Kamarudin Md Nor, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, and Mazlan Bujang.

Besides Dr Mahathir, among those missing in the statements were his son and vice-president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Youth wing chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, ousted secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahya, Maszlee Malik and Datuk A. Kadir Jasin.