KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Ketereh Umno division chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa today said that Umno has the right to decide not to continue the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Putrajaya and Pakatan Harapan (PH) on its own terms.
Commenting on Umno secretary general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan’s tweet that the party will not move forward with the MoU, Annuar said that ultimately, the decision to end the MoU lies in the hands of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his Cabinet.
“I agree that the statement by the Umno secretary-general is correct, that Umno has the right to make its own decisions, and that Umno has agreed not to continue to the MoU.
“But the MoU that exists is not between party and party, the MoU is between PH and the Prime Minister, to maintain political stability. Thus, the Opposition has agreed to work with the government to transform the government, and to also maintain stability,” he told reporters here.
The Ketereh MP once again reiterated that the government’s MoU on Transformation and Political Stability has no “expiry date”, but only a clause saying that the government would not dissolve parliament and hold Malaysia’s 15th general election (GE15) before July 31 this year.
“This MoU is one that does not have an end date. It is written there under Article 3(1) that this MoU will hold from the moment it was signed until Parliament is dissolved.
“Thus, that’s why there were no questions about forming a new MoU. The current MoU still stands and it is up to the signatories to revisit them if they want. But for the existing MoU, it still stands, the only thing is that people get confused about the clause that the government cannot dissolve Parliament until July 31.
“So after July 31, it is up to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to decide,” he said.
He said the MoU does not only revolve around the disbarring of Parliament, but other important aspects that the Prime Minister and Opposition have seen eye to eye on, which is stated in the MoU.
On July 19, Ahmad Maslan tweeted that the Umno supreme council decided to not continue the MoU between the government and PH.
“We consider that if the MoU does not allow to dissolution of Parliament before July 31, then that is the date for the end of the MoU.
“The leadership knows that the decision of the supreme council is final and it has been announced to the masses,” he said.
MKT #UMNO telah putuskan tiada lagi lanjutan kpd MOU antara Kerajaan & #PH. Kami menganggap bila MOU sebut tidak boleh bubar #Parlimen sebelum 31/7/22, maka itulah tarikh tamat MOU. Pimpinan tahu ttg keputusan MKT ini & sudah diumum pun kpd org ramai. #RakyatDidahulukan bukan PH. pic.twitter.com/NRHzBfGUU7
— Ahmad b Maslan (@ahmadmaslan) July 19, 2022
