KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — A faction from Bersatu Youth claimed that 144 out of its 191 divisions support Perikatan Nasional (PN) and are against the plan for the party to rejoin Pakatan Harapan (PH).
In a joint statement by Bersatu Youth exco Muzammil Ismail and the 144 Youth chiefs today, they dismissed a statement saying that the party will return to PH as not representative of the movement’s wishes and criticised it as worsening the crisis in their party.
“This matter has never been discussed among Bersatu Youth divisions. There are 191 of us, including Sabah.
“Can the leadership list out the Bersatu Youth divisions and states which support that position? The Bersatu Youth national leadership should respect the (party’s) organisation structure
“Is Armada (Bersatu Youth) a party within the party? Because they make policy decisions as they wish?” they said in the statement.
Muzammil, who is challenging for the Bersatu Youth chief post held by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in the upcoming party elections, claimed that PH never respected Bersatu when it was in the coalition.
“Did the national Armada leadership forget that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was often ‘bullied’ by the PH component parties until he resigned as prime minister? Where was the Armada national leadership at the time?
“As a national Armada exco, I uphold the decision of the Supreme Council on February 23, which decided that Bersatu would leave PH, and this decision remains until the latest supreme council decision,” he said.
Yesterday, a statement from Bersatu Youth asserted that it has decided to join party chairman Dr Mahathir in rejecting cooperation with Umno and called for a return to the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
The statement said this was the majority decision following a meeting on Tuesday between its exco members, state leaders and Mahathir regarding the future direction of the party.
“Bersatu has been with Harapan since the beginning of its battle to save the nation. We have gone through thick and thin as a family.
“This position is based on a vote during the meeting and is supported by over two-thirds of those present, while the rest abstained and none opposed,” it said in the statement
Earlier today, Perak Bersatu Youth chief Mohd Hafez Mubin Mohd Salleh rejected the statement, saying they are loyal to the party’s president and current PN prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“PH also initially nominated PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the prime minister candidate but made an U-turn in support of Dr Mahathir after seeing support for Anwar as an inadequate and weak prime minister.
“Among the clearest evidence of the betrayal of the PH component party against Bersatu is the video recording of a Perak state assemblyman (DAP) plotting to oust Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu as the Perak mentri besar who was also the Perak PH chairman during the PH tenure in governing the state,” he said in a press statement with all heads of the Perak Bersatu Youth Division today.
Terengganu Bersatu Youth, in a separate statement, declared that it was behind Muhyiddin and won’t support a return to PH while Sabah Bersatu Youth also rejected the idea to return to Harapan.
Meanwhile, Selangor Bersatu Youth said PN was the way forward for Bersatu.
Permatang Pauh and Kepala Batas Bersatu Youth also issued individual statements rejecting the return to PH and several more statements are expected to come out from other divisions.
On February 24, Dr Mahathir resigned as Bersatu chairman after the party decided to leave PH leaving the coalition with 92 out of 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat and short of the 112 simple majority needed to continue as the government.
However, the resignation was rejected by the Bersatu supreme council and Dr Mahathir returned to his position on Feb 27.
Muhyiddin became the prime minister after an alliance with BN, PAS, Sarawak parties as well as ten MPs from former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s faction after almost two weeks of political turmoil in February.
