Former minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has chastised Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for co-opting “kleptocrats” into his government despite once vowing to challenge them.

During an interview on Al Jazeera’s UpFront programme yesterday, host Mehdi Hasan had asked him about Muhyiddin’s changing of allegiances and ascent to power.

“He (Muhyiddin) is like a father to me. One of the reasons why I joined politics was because of him. He was one of the persons who spoke up against a global kleptocrat, who was sacked by his party (Umno) for speaking up against global kleptocrats.

“I joined his party (Bersatu) as one of the co-founders. My mother was threatened, she was a teacher, and she was threatened by the government then [...]

“What truly disappoints me is that today, my very own leader, my 'father', decided to open the door of Malaysian government and democracy to the same kleptocrats that threatened me (and) my family, who sacked him and threatened his family. And now (he has) aligned himself (to them),” Syed Saddiq answered.

Back in 2015, at the height of the 1MDB scandal, Muhyiddin was fired by sixth prime minister Najib Abdul Razak from his position as the deputy prime minister and later expelled from Umno.

He then joined forces with Mahathir to form Bersatu. In GE14, the party was part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition that had removed Najib’s BN government from power for the first time in Malaysian history.

Following Mahathir’s resignation on Feb 24, Muhyiddin’s faction of Bersatu quit Harapan and aligned with BN, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak to form Perikatan Nasional (PN) and claimed the government from Harapan.

Mahathir and Harapan have since branded Muhyiddin a traitor.

Dr M not power crazy, not behind plot

Calling PN an “illegitimate” and “backdoor” government during the interview, Syed Saddiq stressed that neither Mahathir nor the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was to be blamed for the change of government.

The Muar MP said it was Muhyiddin who had presented an incorrect picture to the Agong that he had the majority of MPs on his side.

When pressed if Mahathir had been planning a similar coup to thwart PKR Anwar Ibrahim from succeeding him, Syed Saddiq said no.

“Absolutely not. If Mahathir was really power crazy, he could have simply remained as the PM. And if there (were) to be a change of coalition, with him still heading the prime ministership. That was exactly what this new coalition wanted.

“(But) he stepped down. His moral conscience is clean, and he still fought to ensure that the democratically elected government would stay in power because of the people,” he said.

Grilled by Hasan on whether Mahathir’s seemingly “inconsistent” commitment to handing over the premiership to Anwar had led to the crisis, Syed Saddiq defended the former and stressed that the Harapan presidential council had decided to allow him to govern until after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2020 summit in November.

“We agreed as a consensus.

“Unfortunately, this consensus was not listened to and in the end, there were other parties out there who were unwilling and unhappy. And as a consequence, (they) subverted Malaysian democracy,” he said.