PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is using the current economic situation facing the country for his own political gain, claims Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
The Johor Umno deputy chief claimed that the Perikatan Nasional chairman was trying to get back at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob after Ismail Sabri back-tracked on a secret political deal to appoint someone from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia as deputy prime minister earlier this year.
In a Facebook post Sunday (Sept 25), Nur Jazlan also claimed that Muhyiddin wanted to be the deputy prime minister himself,
“When Ismail Sabri refused to fulfil his request, Muhyiddin was depressed and made various accusations against the prime minister,” claimed Nur Jazlan in his post.
“After Muhyiddin failed to govern the country despite being given unlimited executive powers through the Emergency Ordinance, Ismail Sabri still graciously appointed him as the chairman of the National Recovery Council (MPN).
“He accuses the PM of failing to tackle the economic woes while he is the MPN chairman who is also responsible for helping restore the economy. What was he doing all this time?
“Muhyiddin was the one who originally appointed Tengku (Datuk Seri) Zafrul (Tengku Abdul Aziz) as Finance Minister, (Datuk Seri) Mustapa Mohamad as Minister in charge of the Economy and (Datuk Seri Mohamed) Azmin Ali as International Trade and Industry Minister.
Jazlan also taunted Muhyiddin by seemingly daring the Bersatu president to withdraw his support for the government immediately if he really thought that the current government wasn’t doing well.
“I advise Muhyiddin to stop his acting, don't talk too much and keep his mouth shut,” he said.
A purported secret agreement was supposedly signed between Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin in August 2021 to appoint a deputy prime minister from Bersatu which was later confirmed by officials from both parties.
However, the deal was then seemingly scrapped when the Prime Minister said that there was no need for a deputy prime minister due to already having four senior ministers in his cabinet from Bersatu which Ismail Sabri said was akin to having four deputy prime ministers.
This resulted in the dissatisfaction from the leadership of Perikatan Nasional, with Muhyiddin blaming Ismail Sabri for the current economic issues facing the country.