GE15: I was joking about sackings, says Ismail Sabri over quote on Perikatan ministers

KEPALA BATAS: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob has made light of his previous statement that he should have sacked 12 Perikatan Nasional ministers from the Cabinet for sending a letter to the King objecting to the dissolution of Parliament.

He said his remark was taken out of context and he was merely kidding when he made the remark.

"If I was serious, he and other Perikatan ministers would have already been sacked.

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"(The fact that) he and the others are still in the Cabinet too, means I was just kidding," he said to reporters after officiating the "Pemantapan Komuniti Bandar Keluarga Malaysia" programme at the Tasek Gelugor Commercial Centre here on Wednesday (Oct 19).

In a statement, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Special Functions) Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said he and other Perikatan ministers could resign and there is no need for Ismail Sabri to fire them.

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He was responding to Ismail Sabri's statement on Monday (Oct 17), who said he had made a mistake by not firing the 12 Perikatan ministers from the Cabinet and held back from doing so because he was a nice person.

Dr Abdul Latiff was one of the 12 Perikatan ministers who wrote to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong urging him not to consent to the dissolution of Parliament.