Puad goads Muhyiddin to reveal BN MPs who backed him as PM

Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi is goading Perikatan Nasional chief Muhyiddin Yassin to reveal the identities of the 10 BN MPs that signed statutory declarations (SDs) backing the latter as premier in 2022.

This is after Muhyiddin gave police the SDs and other documents to facilitate a probe over his remarks lamenting that the previous king did not invite him to form a government after securing 115 SDs in the aftermath of the 15th general election.

In a Facebook post this morning, Puad said submitting the SDs to the police was insufficient.

Instead, he dared Muhyiddin to get public acknowledgement from non-PN MPs to prove the authenticity of the SDs.

“As such, Muhyiddin is challenged to call the non-PN MPs to confirm that the SDs are real,” he said.

Without such confirmation, Puad said, the SDs may have been manipulated to confuse the masses who don’t know the true story.

“The palace knows the true story. Hence, Muhyiddin must apologise to the previous Agong,” he added.

Post-GE15 tumult

Besides 74 SDs from PN, Muhyiddin’s own declaration in 2022 stated that he also had SDs from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS-22), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS-6), Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia (KDM-1), as well as SDs from 10 BN MPs and two independent MPs.

The identity of the 10 BN MPs who signed SDs supporting Muhyiddin has never been publicly established.

However, MCA deputy president Mah Hang Soon previously implied that the party’s two lawmakers signed the SDs after being convinced by a “senior BN leader”.

GPS and GRS initially supported Muhyiddin but later withheld their support after BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wrangled the coalition’s lawmakers to align with Anwar Ibrahim.

GPS and GRS ultimately switched their support to Anwar when the Agong at the time, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, advised MPs to form a “unity government”.

READ MORE: Fadillah reveals why GPS changed its mind on PM candidate

Muhyiddin had rejected an offer to form a unity government with Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan.

During his speech at Felda Perasu in Kelantan on Aug 14, Muhyiddin also said he was unsure why Sultan Abdullah did not invite him to the palace to be sworn in after securing the SDs.

The remarks had angered Pahang’s royal family.

Muhyiddin, however, insisted that his remarks were factual and were not meant to insult the monarchy.

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