The Malaysian Insight

The Perikatan National government was formed on the back of Malay-Muslim sentiment but was held together by non-Muslim support, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

However, in making the claim, Dr Mahathir did not elaborate on who the non-Muslims were which the PN was dependent on to stay in power.

Speaking at the launch of his new book Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues For a New Malaysia held via Zoom, he said this propaganda was used to entice people to partake in the Sheraton Move which led to the collapse of Pakatan Harapan.

“This talk about Malay-Muslim government was used to bait them, only to find it wasn’t that. It was a weak government dependent on non-Muslims,” he said.

“If they withdraw, the government will fall. How can you say it is a Malay-Muslim party when the government will collapse if the non-Muslims withdraw their support?

Dr Mahathir resigned as the prime minister after 22 years in 2003. He also resigned as the Umno president.

He subsequently formed Bersatu on September 20, 2016 and aligned with Pakatan Harapan in a formal pact on December 13 the same year.

The coalition, led by Dr Mahathir, was successful in overthrowing Barisan National’s 60-year rule in 2018 but subsequently collapsed after the Sheraton Move and Dr Mahathir’s resignation which threw Malaysia into a political crisis in March 2020.

Muhyiddin Yassin was subsequently appointed as the new prime minister. He was backed by lawmakers from Gabungan Parti Sarawak and members of Parliament who had defected from Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

The PKR lawmakers behind the Sheraton Move were Mohamed Azmin, Zuraida Kamaruddin, Saifuddin Abdullah, Baru Bian, Kamaruddin Jaffar, Mansor Othman,Rashid Hasnon, Ali Biju and Willie Mongin. Another PKR MP, Dr Santhara Kumar, subsequently quit PKR and joined PN.

In February this year, Julau MP Larry Sng Wei Shien and Tebrau MP Steven Choong Shiau Yoon also pledged support for Muhyiddin. This was followed by another PKR MP, Xavier Jayakumar, who left to support Muhyiddin in March this year.

After 17 months in power, Muhyiddin too resigned on August 16 amid infighting in PN and his failure to effectively combat the Covid-19 crisis in the country.

Ismail Sabri Yaakob was subsequently sworn in as a new PM in August 2021, which effectively paved the way for Umno to return to power. – December 7, 2021.