KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman followed a heated debate on matters including the premiership transition during the party supreme council meeting on Sunday.
In his blog post today, Bersatu supreme council member Datuk A. Kadir Jasin revealed that Dr Mahathir “felt a majority of the council members listened more to his political secretary than him.”
Kadir did not mention the name of the political secretary. The meeting was held to discuss the party’s future in the then ruling coalition of Pakatan Harapan, as well as the passing of the baton to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the next prime minister.
“At that meeting, he explained the wide mandate the PH Presidential Council had given him at the meeting on Feb 21.
“He appealed to MPT (supreme council) members not to force him to abandon his principles and renege on his promise (to hand over power to Anwar after the APEC Summit in November),” Kadir wrote.
He also opined that the appeal by Bersatu party leaders for Dr Mahathir to retract his resignation as chairman has fallen on deaf ears.
“First thing this morning, (Dr Mahathir) received an unplanned visit by leaders of his party, Bersatu, at his private residence in Sungai Besi. They had come to plead with him to withdraw his decision, yesterday, to resign as chairman of the party.
“By the look of things, he is not treating their appeal as an urgent matter. It should be so. Many more urgent matters require his attention.
“These include managing the economy, steadying the capital market, continuing with the proposed economic stimulus package, consulting with top civil servants and meeting leaders of the main political parties.
“The last bit of the agenda will help him understand more clearly the extent of support most of them have expressed for him and, from there, to plot the next move.”
Kadir wrote that Dr Mahathir will be gauging the support of political leaders for him to remain at the helm.
“For instance, are they supporting him because they genuinely want him to continue to lead the country, or because they don’t want their adversaries to win popular support to become prime minister?
“If the support is genuine and there’s no other contender, he can start forming a new government.”
During Sunday’s council meeting, he said Dr Mahathir also made it clear that negative elements were not welcome in the new government.
“Whatever form of government Dr Mahathir decides on, one thing is for sure. The crooks, kleptocrats, the OKTs (sic) and the generally corrupt are not welcome. This he made clear to his party at the Sunday meeting.
“The rule of law, the high-profile trials and the reform agenda will continue,” Kadir added.