KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s (PBM) Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has lambasted her former coalition colleagues in Pakatan Harapan (PH) for their purported disunity that she claimed triggered the 'Sheraton Move'.
In an interview with The Vibes, Zuraida said PH was split between supporting Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, following the former’s resignation.
She added that since no single MP could secure the support of the 112 colleagues needed to form a new government, Dr Mahathir later agreed to back Bersatu’s Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the next prime minister.
She said this prompted her and other 10 other MPs led by Datuk Seri Mohammad Azmin Ali to pledge their support to the Bersatu president, which led to the 'Sheraton Move' in February 2020.
Zuraida also claimed that Dr Mahathir made an eleventh-hour U-turn to return to PH’s camp, only after her group of coalition rebels had signed a statutory declaration to support Muhyiddin Yassin.
“We had signed statutory declarations supporting Muhyiddin. But the night before the second round of voting, Tun hopped back to PH. We said (that) we’ve already done this (signed the declaration), so let’s just follow the original plan, and Muhyiddin eventually won,” Zuraida was quoted as saying.
The incumbent Ampang MP added that PH was also divided over Dr Mahathir’s proposal to form a unity govt with ministers from then Opposition parties.
“I was very happy with the proposal. I don’t agree with having unintelligent party presidents as ministers. So, they were not happy when Tun announced that. That was the reason they didn’t vote for him in the first round,” she added.
In the same interview, she said that the PH administration was the worst among the three governments that had helmed Putrajaya since 2018.
Zuraida was among a handful of lawmakers appointed to Cabinet in the administrations led by PH, Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional.
“The reason why PH only lasted 22 months was that most of us never had the experience as ministers, so we struggled to understand the government system and the civil servants.
“The four PH component parties were also not able to blend and integrate, as each had their own agenda,” she said.
She added that the new ministers still thought like Opposition lawmakers at the time and continued to blame the previous government both in Parliament and on official visits abroad.
Without naming names, she accused one lawmaker of being particularly disruptive to the government of the day in their quest to secure the top job of prime minister.
Zuraida won the Ampang parliamentary seat in 2018 for PKR with a 41,956 majority on a PH ticket.
She faces an eight-cornered fight on November 19, involving opponents from all three of her previous coalitions as well as independent candidates.
