GEORGE TOWN, Feb 8 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) has yet to decide whether to spread its wings to Sabah, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
The prime minister and PPBM chairman said the matter had to be discussed first by the party top leadership.
“We make decisions at meetings. We have to hold a meeting of the supreme leadership council first (to decide whether to spread wings to Sabah),” he told reporters.
Dr Mahathir was asked to comment on a statement by independent Sulaman assemblyman and former Sabah Umno Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Hajiji Noor that PPBM would spread its wings to Sabah soon.
Following Hajiji’s statement, Sabah Chief Minister and Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he hoped that peninsula-based PPBM would keep its word not to spread its wings to Sabah as per a “sibling agreement” reached at the 14th general election last year.
On another matter, Dr Mahathir said he had yet to be briefed fully on the issue of the academic certificate of Deputy Foreign Minister and PPBM secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahya.
“We haven’t found out what really happened,” he said when approached after he had delivered a keynote address at the Premier Unity Gathering in conjunction with Penang State Unity Day and the 15th anniversary of the Penang State Consultative Goodwill Council, at Dewan Sri Pinang, here.
A Facebook post on February 3 claimed that Marzuki had deceived the people by stating that he had obtained a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Cambridge through a distance-learning programme which reportedly the university did not offer.
A day later, political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef lodged a police report over the claim, and Marzuki responded by saying that he would produce the proof.
Subsequently, several news portals reported Marzuki as saying he obtained the degree from the Cambridge International University in the United States and not the University of Cambridge in England.
Meanwhile, all the 13 PPBM divisions in Penang, led by Penang PPBM secretary Azahari Aris, expressed their support for Marzuki’s leadership as the chairman of Penang PPBM and as secretary-general of the party. — Bernama
