KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today explained that he had quit the country's premiership and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman as his own party had rejected him.
In a five-minute video which premiered on Facebook, Dr Mahathir said Bersatu had, on Feb 21 this year-- which was the Friday before the Sheraton Move weekend-- took a stance that went against his.
His own party, said Dr Mahathir, was adamant that it should quit the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and work with Barisan Nasional, which they had defeated in the 14th General Election (GE14).
"Many people do not understand why I quit. I quit because my own party had rejected me. They made a decision that clashed with my advice. It meant that the party had lost their trust in me.
"In that situation, I cannot remain as Bersatu chairman. That was why. It was because of my own party's action. I was of the opinion that the suggestion for Bersatu to exit the PH coalition did not have a good basis.
"I was fully supported by PH during their meeting on Friday. They had given the approval for me to freely determine when I want to quit. When that decision was made and I received full support from PH, I told Muhyiddin (Bersatu president and current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) then what was the reason for me to leave PH.
"If there are other reasons, I said let's wait and I shall quit PH. But he felt that we needed to leave PH on that day itself. He said if not, the Malays will be destroyed by DAP. I did not believe that DAP could easily destroy the Malays," said Dr Mahathir.
He added that he had told Muhyiddin to give time to that thought and to think deeply as Bersatu had won GE14 with the support of PH; and they should not rush to make the decision to cooperate with BN, which was a party that had lost.
"PH was the party that won GE14. Why should we suddenly reject and cooperate with the defeated party? The party that is involved with corruption, the stealing of money and others.
"We reject our own party and work with the defeated party, which is chaired by Najib (Datuk Seri Najib Razak), and become the government. They did not care about my opinion and left PH.
"I thought deeply and if my own party rejects me, I need to quit my position. That was why I quit as PH chairman and then as Prime Minister, although many had asked me to return as chairman.
"I went back to becoming Bersatu chairman but not PH (chairman) because the party was already out of the coalition. PH had then collapsed because Bersatu left," said Dr Mahathir.