Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Advisory Council chairman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah dropped a bombshell yesterday by calling for Umno members in the Cabinet to disassociate themselves from the present government.
The Gua Musang MP related the matter to the recent announcement by Bersatu to accept non-Malays as party members.
He said Bersatu, by having announced it will accept non-Malays as party members, has automatically disqualified itself from membership of the Malay-Muslim pact backed by Muafakat Nasional.
“With the change (on membership) announced by Bersatu, it is only appropriate for Umno members in the Cabinet to disassociate themselves from the present government.
“This has to be done as soon as possible so that we do not waste time addressing bigger issues such as the situation where young people are finding it difficult to secure jobs at a time when we are facing the Covid-19 pandemic that is threatening the country,” he said in a statement.
He also said that a matter as huge as this should be brought to the party general assembly soon.
Tengku Razaleigh said Umno has never been a member of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government; it has only provided support from the beginning during the formation of this government so as to maintain political stability in the country.
The PN government was established on Feb 29 with the backing of several political parties, namely Bersatu, Umno, PAS, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) of Sabah, MCA and MIC.
The government was set up after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, comprising PKR, DAP, Bersatu and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), lost majority support in Parliament when Bersatu decided to leave the PH coalition.
Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin took his oath of office as the eighth prime minister on March 1 and formed the Cabinet on March 10.
Bersatu was accepted into Muafakat Nasional, made up of Umno and PAS, on Aug 13 and Muhyiddin expressed agreement on Aug 18 for the party to join the coalition.
Nine MPs from Umno are in the Cabinet of the PN government while seven Umno MPs are also in the administration.