SAN FRANCISCO: The four Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) members of parliament who declared support for the unity government did so on their own accord after suffering a trust deficit towards their own party leadership, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
He said the MPs switching support to his administration was unlike what the architects of the Sheraton Move had engineered leading to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government previously.
"In the Sheraton Move, the architects openly admitted that under the scheme of things, those who cross over to their side would be rewarded (with positions and other sweeteners).
"However, in the case of the four MPs, it happened after they saw for themselves what is happening (in the Opposition camp)," he said.
Anwar said he had refrained from commenting on the issue of the four MPs support for his unity government previously but was doing so now that the question had been posed to him, and all kind of accusations were being levelled against the government.
A student here raised the issue during a question and answer session at a Meet the Prime Minister session organised for the Malaysian diaspora here on the sidelines of the 2023 Apec Summit.
The prime minister said Opposition leaders had repeatedly told their supporters that they had the numbers to topple the unity government and had been misleading everyone for the longest time.
He said now their own MPs were beginning to realise that it was all nothing but hot air.
"The MPs keep hearing their leaders say they have the numbers to topple us...that they have the support of Sarawak, Umno and even the Royalty.
"However, nothing happened and the MPs now realise it and they need to start concentrating on delivering people centric projects in their constituencies," he said.
Anwar, who is Finance Minister, added that after the MPs switched their support allegations of bribery had surfaced.
He said the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) was free to investigate as the government had nothing to hide.
It was reported that the MACC will be summoning the four MPs as part of its probe following allegations of bribery.
The four Bersatu MPs who have stated their support for Anwar are Labuan MP Suhaili Abdul Rahman, Kuala Kangsar MP Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid, Gua Musang MP Azizi Abu Naim and Jeli MP Zahari Kechik