KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — A Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Supreme Council member has questioned the motive behind a leaked audio clip in which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was heard attempting to delay his own party’s exit from Pakatan Harapan (PH) released today.
Tariq Ismail Mustafa said that he was present at the February 23 meeting and remembered that no decision of leaving Pakatan Harapan (PH) was ever made that day, accusing pro-Perikatan Nasional (PN) leaders of trying to disrupt relations between Dr Mahathir and PH instead.
“The truth is, the proposal to leave PH to join Muafakat Nasional ended with the decision to submit a final decision to Tun Dr Mahathir after he had carefully considered and considered the proposal,” he said in a brief statement.
“If the purpose of this video is to break the relationship between Tun and PH, and to provoke [Datuk Seri] Anwar Ibrahim and the DAP, then it is evident that the ‘Sheraton gang’ has been mistaken.”
He was referring to Bersatu faction lead by the party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, who met with Umno and PAS leaders at the Sheraton Hotel before the PH government collapse in February.
In the leaked clip, Dr Mahathir was heard expressing “his dislike” for DAP and Anwar, which he said was shared by the rest of the party.
Despite this, Dr Mahathir had been representing his faction in joint statements and press conferences together with PH in the past few days.
Tariq, who is the grandson of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, claimed that Dr Mahathir’s relationship with PH is still strong and as fighters, they are able to save the country from kleptocrats which they associated with the former BN government.
“Although there were once enemies, however, the professional relationship between Tun and them was still respectful. Because between them, the patriotic spirit was thick in the air,” he said, referring to PH.
“Indeed, only pure fighters can bring the aspirations of the people who are hoping for a return to the nation’s dignity with the fall of the kleptocrats.”
Earlier today, Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman insisted that Dr Mahathir had pleaded against the proposal to abandon the PH in the February 23 meeting, and insisted the audio clip was a “blatant lie” for not portraying the full picture.
Syed Saddiq said in his final plea, Dr Mahathir had even urged the party to not force him to betray his principles.
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 above-mentioned meeting.
The statement also touched on how Bersatu as a party is fully behind the formation of PN as a coalition aimed at achieving the goals and objectives set by PN’s memorandum of understanding.
