KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — The supreme council of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia unanimously rejected Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation as president today, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said.
The Bersatu secretary-general said the rejection was made during the supreme council meeting — which Muhyiddin chaired — to receive the reports of the party’s Armada and Srikandi wings following their annual assemblies.
“[The rejection] is because the supreme council emphasises that the charges were made against Muhyiddin in his position as the president of Bersatu and not in his personal capacity,” Hamzah said in a statement.
He added that the Bersatu leadership is asking members and supporters to remain calm while Muhyiddin and the party dealt with the “falsehoods and tyranny”.
Yesterday, the former prime minister was charged with four counts of corruption and two counts of money laundering at the Sessions Court here, but did not resign as his Bersatu post as the party’s former information chief, Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, did after the latter was charged in February.
Today, Wan Saiful sought to differentiate their circumstances by saying his post had been an appointment while Muhyiddin was elected to the position.
Muhyiddin was charged with four counts of soliciting bribes totalling RM230 million and two counts of money laundering involving RM195 million, becoming only the second former prime minister to be criminally prosecuted in Malaysia after Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
