Upko chief invites Muhyiddin’s Umno critics to band together with Pakatan Plus

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 13 ― An Opposition leader has invited Umno lawmakers who have withdrawn their support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to work with the Pakatan Harapan Plus coalition.

United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) president Datuk Seri Madius Tangau asked his former Barisan Nasional colleagues to save Malaysia from the government’s “act of desperation” to cling to power by declaring an Emergency.

“To my parliamentary colleagues Ahmad Jazlan, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and other old friends in Barisan Nasional who are abandoning Muhyiddin not because they have ongoing court cases, I urge you to join us in PH Plus to discuss alternative policies for post-Muhyiddin and post-PN Malaysia.

“Whether we would sit next to each other in the future, as parliamentarians, we have a duty to offer workable and broad-based policies for millions of suffering Malaysians when the PM damages their livelihoods just to save his job,” he said in a statement here recently.

Tangau, who was lamenting the state of politics in Malaysia, said the Opposition should be ready to take over the government.

However, he said it was not yet at this stage as it still has not formed a shadow Cabinet to demonstrate its preparedness to take over the running of the federal administration.

“The truth is PH Plus has wasted 10 months after the Sheraton Move. We did not have a shadow Cabinet despite having about 40 ex-ministers and ex-deputy ministers. We could not even produce a Shadow Budget before November 6. I am ashamed,” he said.

Admitting that he was also guilty of inaction, he urged Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to form a shadow Cabinet within a week, and immediately work out the Opposition's alternative policies on the pandemic and economy.

“Please chair the PH Plus Shadow Cabinet's first meeting next Wednesday, on Zoom.

“It's time we stop our repeated attacks on the backdoor government. Instead, we must work hard on offering better policies and delivery so we can walk in from the frontdoor with a strong, formidable and convincing majority after,” he said.

Like others in the Opposition, Tangau said Muhyiddin’s move to declare an Emergency for the next eight months was an assault on democracy to stay in power, and putting at risk the people’s livelihood and the country’s economy.  

“PH Plus must be ready to shoulder the responsibility to restore our economy when Muhyiddin's adventurism and misgovernance cross the red line beyond what the Malaysian public and sober parliamentarians in the government can tolerate.

That day will surely come. We just don't know how soon. But when it comes, PH Plus must be ready,” he said.

Yesterday, Padang Rengas MP Nazri announced he was withdrawing support for Muhyiddin as even as the latter's emergency declaration just shortly before meant there would be no parliamentary sitting or a general election.

Before that, Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan and Umno vice president Tengku Razaleigh also withdrew their support for Muhyiddin, effectively rendering his administration a minority government.