PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says he will be keeping a close eye on the 10 BN MPs who signed statutory declarations (SD) in support of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
Zahid said although he has forgiven them, he wanted to ensure they did not do the same in the future.
Yesterday, Zahid had identified the 10 MPs who had gone behind the coalition’s back and signed SDs in support of Muhyiddin after the recent general election resulted in a hung Parliament.
Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi said Zahid told a special briefing that six of the MPs were from Umno – Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong), Hasni Mohammad (Simpang Renggam), Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu), Isam Isa (Tampin), Adnan Abu Hassan (Kuala Pilah) and Abdul Rahman Mohamad (Lipis).
MCA’s Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam) and Wee Jeck Seng (Tanjung Piai), MIC’s M Saravanan (Tapah) and PBRS’ Arthur Joseph Kurup (Pensiangan) were the other four MPs.
Zahid said his revelation of the 10 MPs’ identities was not a vindictive move, but he wanted to explain the events that had led to Umno and BN joining the unity government.
He said he understood that the 10 signed the SDs because of the uncertain circumstances following the inconclusive election results.
They later retracted the SDs.
“As the incident has passed and they are now with the unity government, I forgive them. But I will continue to monitor them along with the (BN) disciplinary committee,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here today.
He said he was confident the 10 MPs will remain with BN and continue supporting the Anwar Ibrahim-led administration.
“We must move forward and, to do so, it is best to make a lesson of the incident,” he said. “All of BN’s decisions are made en bloc, as a team.”
He said it was normal to have different views but maintained that it was important to work together to “reset” Umno and BN.
Zahid said he would outline Umno’s new direction moving forward in his policy speech at the party’s general assembly tomorrow.
