KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is told to bear with the current government and battle it out in the next general election, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
The Umno information chief told the Perikatan Nasional chairman to focus on challenging their opponents in the next general election instead of focusing on the Statutory Declarations (SDs) they obtained to form the government.
Azalina shared that Pakatan Harapan accepted the decision to place Muhyiddin as the prime minister after the Sheraton Move incident in 2020.
“At the time, I met with the opposition leader, who is now our current Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim), who informed me that Pakatan had accepted the decision of the King.
“That is a gentlemanly move by the opposition. My comment is there are two and half years left (of the five-year term for administration), just contest and then form the government,” she said in a press conference at the 2024 Umno General Assembly here on Thursday (Aug 22).
The minister in charge of law also shared her experience when meeting the then Yang diPertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who met all Parliament Members individually during the political turmoil.
“The King was thorough in his process, interviewing all the MPs individually, asking if we were pressured to show support.
“His Majesty was like that so he would not exceed the powers granted to him,” she said while elaborating that the King was accorded absolute discretion to appoint a Prime Minister who, in his judgement, is likely to command the confidence of the majority member of that House.
The Pengerang MP added that due to absolute discretion accorded to the King, the question of majority should not be questioned at all.
“This is not about the amount of SDs you have obtained, which will be the measure of how you can form the majority. However, it is the agreement between parties to form the government in the post-coalition agreement.
“The question of whoever gained the majority will also be tested in Parliament,” she added.
