SERDANG, Nov 22 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today stood by his remark on what transpired following the 14th general election, elaborating that Umno had planned to form a pact with Islamist rival PAS to keep Putrajaya then.
The prime minister reiterated the two parties were trying to entice a few Malay MPs from Pakatan Harapan (PH), following his claim that the manoeuvring had delayed the pact from announcing its victory.
“That night the acknowledgement that PH had won was late. Rightfully, by 8.30pm, we should have already known that we won, but there was no announcement.
“No announcement because Umno leaders planned to join forces with PAS, and pull a few Malays from PKR, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, so they have enough seats to form the government,” Dr Mahathir alleged in a press conference.
He said that the plan however proved futile, and Barisan Nasional (BN) was forced to acknowledge PH’s victory.
Dr Mahathir was quoted by magazine Mekong Review as saying that there were last-minute efforts to win over Malay-Muslim MPs from PH, which delayed the announcement of its election victory by almost six hours.
However, the former chairman of BN Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that there was no order given to any BN party to persuade PH representative to cross over after the May 9 general election.
Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin also backed Najib’s assertion, saying he was unaware of any order to get PH representatives to cross over.
The former BN and Umno Youth chief recounted that he headed straight to Najib’s house following his victory in Rembau, adding that they were joined by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor — all of whom were in the previous Cabinet under BN.
This comes as Zahid recently proposed a merger between Umno and PAS, but party secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa then denied such a move.
