Bersatu insists decision to leave Pakatan was made in Feb supreme council meeting

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Embattled Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) has clarified that the decision to leave Pakatan Harapan (PH) as a coalition was made during a supreme council meeting amid doubts of factions within the party.

A statement issued today, undersigned by members of Bersatu’s supreme council and several state party leaders, stressed the resolution made during a supreme council meeting on February 23 had decided that the party should leave PH and form a new alliance with other political parties.

“This decision is clear and need not be disputed,” read the statement.

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 was 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 Asari, secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, treasurer Datuk Muhamed Salleh Bajuri and information chief Radzi Jidin, along with 21 other state and supplement council members.

This comes as factions within the party have caused internal cracks to grow, with party members divided over whether to back party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or party president Muhyiddin’s faction.  

The split within the party led Dr Mahathir to resign as prime minister in late February after he refused to be part of PN to cooperate with parties he ousted such as those within Umno.

Most recently, the split has caused Bersatu to lose a mentri besar, after Dr Mahathir’s son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir resigned as Kedah mentri besar following the collapse of the PH state government.

The collapse of the Kedah state government was triggered after two PKR state assemblymen defected from their party to become independents in support of PN.