Bersatu appears to have two sec-gens

Bersatu now appears to have two secretaries-general, each aligned to party chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and party president Muhyiddin Yassin respectively.

This situation began with the sacking of Marzuki Yahya as secretary-general on March 18 by Muhyiddin, which Mahathir had said was null and void because it did not satisfy party rules.

According to Mahathir, the rules stated that he must be consulted on the removal or appointment of the secretary-general and this requirement was not fulfilled.

Today, Muhyiddin has clarified that he had already appointed Hamzah Zainuddin as the secretary-general on March 18.

Hamzah has already exercised his function as secretary-general. Malaysiakini has sighted a letter penned by Hamzah ordering all party branches which have yet to conduct their annual meetings to postpone it to a later date to be determined by Bersatu central leadership.

The same letter said that instructions sent out by Marzuki to the parties were now invalid.

"Following the order from the Registrar of Societies dated March 18, 2020, I hereby order for all branch annual meetings which have yet to be conducted, to be postponed to a new date which will be determined by the party's supreme leadership council.

"New dates for divisional meeting and annual general meeting will also be notified later.

"With this, the arahan khas (special instruction) as published on media statement dated March 18 is null and void (terbatal)," stated Hamzah's letter.

The letter was addressed to the party's election committee, division chiefs and secretaries, and branch chief and secretaries.

Hamzah was referring to Marzuki's letter on March 18, ordering 29 party divisions which have yet to do their annual meeting to continue it between April 1 and 7.

'Shocking'

Meanwhile, a member of Bersatu supreme council, Tariq Ismail Mustafa, in a statement expressed his shock over the circular letter signed by Hamzah.

He also questioned the validity of the order.

"Didn't Mahathir, the legitimate party chairperson who won uncontested had on March 20, 2020, said he did not agree with Hamzah's appointment?

"Didn't Mahathir's letter (to the party president) clearly referred to the Bersatu constitution, which requires the appointment of party secretary-general must be agreed upon discussion with him?

"And didn't Mahathir said that Marzuki is still the party secretary-general?" asked Tariq.

Malaysiakini has contacted Hamzah for comments but has yet to receive a response.

Hamzah has been widely credited in political circles as a key figure in the "Sheraton Move" which saw Muhyiddin replacing Mahathir as prime minister and the establishment of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. 

Mahathir and several Bersatu MPs aligned to him are opponents of the PN government, which incidentally has also cut them off from their constituency funding.

'Settle this internally'

Bersatu executive secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, when contacted, confirmed the authenticity of Hamzah's letter.

He said the letter was issued in compliance of ROS' order, which has prohibited all organisations registered under it from conducting any activities until the Covid-19 virus outbreak is over.

However, when asked if the order by Hamzah is valid due to Mahathir's rejection of his appointment, Suhaimi said the matter should be left to the party to resolve.

"We are only following ROS order," he said. "Refer to the (party) constitution. Let the party handle this."

Suhaimi did not respond to further queries.

Marzuki when contacted today said he had also received the letter via Whatsapp message.

When asked about the validity of Hamzah's powers to issue the letter, he said: "That's why. I also do not understand."

Marzuki also expressed that the matter would be resolved later through the internal party process.

However, he declined to confirm if there is a discussion ongoing between Mahathir and Muhyiddin on the matter.

"Now everybody stays at home. After this (we will address the matter).

"Now we fight Covid-19 first," he said.

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