KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have denied signing statutory declarations in support of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim taking over as prime minister beginning July 2.
This follows pictures of the purported statutory declarations going viral on social media recently.
Muhyiddin, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president, also said he has ordered an investigation into claims he had signed such a document.
“I vehemently deny that I had signed a statutory declaration regarding the transition of the post of prime minister from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim... that document is a fake.
“I have asked police to investigate the fake document as I believe that this was meant to sully my good name,” he said in a statement posted on his Facebook account.
A picture of a document purportedly signed by Muhyiddin has been making the rounds in social media circles over the past few days.
In the statutory declaration, Muhyiddin was purported to have stated that he supported the immediate transition of power from Dr Mahathir to Anwar.
He had also purportedly pledged to comply with Anwar’s instructions as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.
Umno president Zahid also denied signing such a declaration in a statement on his Facebook account.
“This is malicious slander perpetrated by irresponsible people who are out to spoil my name as Umno president. I want to state that all big decisions and stands taken by Umno are made as a team. They are not made by me as an individual,” he said.
The pictures went viral following rumours that Anwar had collected the statutory declarations of 149 members of parliament from the various Pakatan Harapan parties as well as several from Umno, including Zahid.
All the statutory declarations were in support of him immediately taking over as prime minister. If true, this would have given him a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
Anwar was also claimed to have signed a declaration in which he allegedly named Muhyiddin as deputy prime minister.
Dr Mahathir has several times in the past touched on his succession plan, reaffirming that he would pass the baton on to Anwar.
Last month, he had reiterated this, saying he would hand over the reins of the nation to Anwar “within three years”, though the timeframe was not specific.
Following Dr Mahathir’s statement, the PKR leadership had issued a statement that it supported the prime minister’s succession plan.
Anwar has also since come out to say that he was irritated that some people were trying to burn his relationship with Dr Mahathir by constantly trying to pit the two leaders against each other.