PUTRAJAYA (June 5): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, who insists on Friday that he remains the legitimate chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), pledged to respond to the party's internal conflict in accordance to its constitution.
This follows an earlier official statement issued by Bersatu that the party has formalised the sacking of Mahathir and four other Bersatu members of parliament (MPs), after the matter was discussed at a supreme council meeting on Thursday night.
The four are: Simpang Renggam MP Dr Maszlee Malik, Jerlun MP Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Kubang Pasu MP Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.
"The power vested in a chairman is guided by the constitution. I will use the constitutional platform. I'm not a person who ignores the constitution or the law for my own personal gain. We will follow the constitution (for the next course of action)," Dr Mahathir told a press conferece here.
"He (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) does not have the authority to sack (us). The supposed supreme council meeting last night was attended by newly-appointed members. The actual members were not called to the meeting to have their say in the decision. This is wrong," the Langkawi MP added.
In the statement, Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said the Supreme Council had recognised Muhyiddin as the acting chairman in accordance with Clause 16.9 of the party constitution, following the resignation of Dr Mahathir as chairman on Feb 24.
He also said the memberships of Dr Mahathir, Mukhriz, Maszlee, Syed Saddiq and Amiruddin had been terminated immediately, in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 of the party's constitution.
The two clauses state that membership of party members are cancelled if they leave the party or join any other political parties.
On Thursday, four Bersatu supreme council leaders who attended the three-hour meeting, left the session early in protest over the sacking of the five, which they claim was done against the party's constitution.
The four were Akramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi, Tariq Ismail Mustafa, Ulya Awamah Husamuddin and Abu Bakar Yahya.
According to Akramsyah, the Dr Mahathir-led Bersatu faction had not violated the constitution for remaining in Pakatan Harapan (PH), saying Bersatu technically remained part of the PH coalition.
This, he said, was because Bersatu had never officially pledged itself as a component party to the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, nor had it announced its exit from PH via a formal process.
Dr Mahathir, meanwhile, said a meeting to discuss this matter was called by Muhyiddin before but was cancelled, after some party leaders questioned the latter on his decision to exclude the former and several other prominent members from the meeting.
"Some of the party members complained about my exclusion, which prompted him (Muhyiddin) to cancel the meeting. Because of this, he resorted to sacking me so people can't question him again for not including me in the supreme council meeting.
"What he did was illegal and not proper. He sacked people who are not in favour of him and replaced them with those with the 'yes man' attitude, in order to sustain himself. I don't know how long he can do this," he added.
A return to practices under 'Najib's era'
Commenting on the PN administration, Dr Mahathir said the country had peddled back into the era of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, where power abuse was practiced.
This, he said, was evident when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) used "inappropriate methods" when investigating cases involving Bersatu dissenters, including party youth wing Armada chief Syed Saddiq.
Syed Saddiq has been known publicly as a staunch supporter of Dr Mahathir. It was reported that the former Youth and Sports Minister was arrested by the MACC for investigation over some missing cash.
"Questioning people is fine. But the methods used in the interrogation were inappropriate. Some of them were unnecessarily called in at night and questioned until the wee hours, despite lacking evidence. This was done on purpose.
"It was different from how the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) investigations were conducted under the PH administration. The investigations were done in a professional manner. We had all the documents ready, as evidence to establish a case," said the 94-year-old politician.
Dr Mahathir also chided the PN government for appointing unqualified politicians to key positions in government-linked companies (GLCs) with high paying-salaries. This, he said, was also a common practice during the "Najib era".
"Under the PH administration, most of these roles were filled by professionals. Only a handful were politicians who had the required qualifications. Today, we see unqualified politicians including those with court cases, being appointed to such roles," he said, adding that the worst has yet to pass under the PN administration.