The Malaysian Insight

UMNO’S Besut MP Idris Jusoh today expressed his support for Muhyiddin Yassin, and at the same time questioned the move made by his party chief to withdraw the support, causing chaos to the nation’s political situation. 

The former Terengganu menteri besar said he was unsure of the party’s direction after president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi pulled support for Muhyiddin. 

He said Zahid should clarify if he was getting Umno to back Anwar Ibrahim to become the new prime minister. 

Idris said this today following reports from state Umno that three more lawmakers would retract support for the prime minister. 

“We were instructed to reject the present government and withdraw support for Muhyiddin. After that, where do we go? 

“Do we want to become the opposition, and allow non-Malay leaders to manage Islamic affairs? 

“Or do we want to support Anwar as we are aware of the close ties between Zahid and the PKR president?” he asked in a statement.

Earlier, Terengganu Umno chief Ahmad Said said it was up to Idris to toe the party line or decide on his own. 

“It is up to him. We issued a directive because that was the order from Umno headquarters to withdraw support for Muhyiddin,” he said. 

He added that the state Umno also had not instructed Idris to resign from his post as the Felda chairman. 

He claimed there were three more Umno MPs who had withdrawn their support for Muhyiddin, adding that these three had already submitted their statutory declarations to the Agong.

He did not name the trio. 

Besut is the only Umno federal seat in Terengganu. The other seat the party had won was Hulu Terengganu but its MP, Rosol Wahid, defected to Bersatu in December 2019. 

Yesterday, Zahid said more than eight Umno lawmakers had informed the Agong of their intention to withdraw support for Muhyiddin. 

Muhyiddin however reiterated that he continued to enjoy the majority, and agreed to face the confidence test when Parliament sits next month. – August 5, 2021.