Art Harun 'dead wrong', Muhyiddin desired to be PM, claims Kit Siang

PETALING JAYA: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun is “dead wrong” to say Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin never asked for the prime minister’s post, says DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.

"I should know because he asked for my support in a cloak-and-dagger meeting at Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur in 2016 but I declined to do so because DAP was committed to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim being the prime minister," said Lim in a statement on Saturday (July 30).

Lim said Azhar took everyone by surprise when he called Muhyiddin an overlooked reformist during the launch of the book “Muhyiddin Yassin: Leading a Nation in Unprecedented Crisis” by Abdul Mutalib Razak.

The Dewan Rakyat Speaker in his speech at the book launch, had credited Muhyiddin for embarking on efforts to reform laws, which was deemed unsuitable when he was the Home Minister during the Pakatan Harapan administration.

"Malaysia’s success in encountering Covid-19, the success that we are all benefiting from now is a fruit whose seeds were sowed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin," he had said.

Lim said that Muhyiddin would forever be remembered among others for "the infamous Sheraton Move, illegal and unconstitutional declaration of six-month Emergency and his governance during the beginning of the more than two years of Covid-19 pandemic".

He said it was difficult to say that Muhyiddin's political life was one of success, claiming that he had failed as an education minister and in the battle against corruption.

"Mythmakers claim that Muhyiddin's government has passed its greatest test in the Covid-19 pandemic but on the contrary, this was not the truth, and we survived due to the hard work of frontliners and the public who rallied behind the government.

“The exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths after the Emergency was declared showed that the move was the wrong prescription for the pandemic and in fact was a gross abuse of executive power," he added.