KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — Langkawi MP Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that his resignation as prime minister was only a “formality” as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had ceased to be the government the moment Bersatu abandoned them.

In his blog today titled My Resignation, the former premier said that this automatically triggered the end of the PH Cabinet.

“Strictly speaking, when Bersatu left PH, PH ceased to be the Government. This meant that all members of the Cabinet lost their ministerial positions. This included me. I had lost my position as prime minister. Resigning was only a formality,” said Dr Mahathir.

The 95-year-old politician implied that the end of the PH administration was the brainchild of his former protégé turned nemesis Pekan MP and former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak who had also proposed to set up a Malay-Muslim administration with PAS.

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For this plan to succeed, Najib needed more Malay support and for Bersatu to leave PH while allying itself with PAS and Umno.

Dr Mahathir then accused Bersatu secretary-general and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin of being part of the conspiracy to oust DAP and overthrow the PH administration.

Apparently, Hamzah’s role was to obtain Umno support for Bersatu and Dr Mahathir, who was supposed to lead the “unholy coalition”, which he refused.

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“Hamzah Zainuddin worked to get Umno members to support me, as I was to be the prime minister in this new coalition. He got even Najib to sign. I opposed this move. But Muhyiddin supported the idea. Majority in Bersatu supported Muhyiddin.

“I refused to be PM of the Umno/PAS/Bersatu government because it meant I would be working with Umno and Najib, the people I had condemned and defeated in the 14th GE. I would actually be resuscitating Umno and make it a part of the government.

“I would be betraying the people who supported me in the election. I would also be reneging on my promises to the other parties in the PH coalition. I just could not accept the suggestion that I should be the prime minister of this unholy coalition,” said Dr Mahathir.

He then added that Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was willing to accept the cooperation with Umno and PAS, hence he decided to leave the group.