If good ties with royals requirement to be PM, no PN leaders qualify: Puad

Summary

• Mohd Puad Zarkashi says no PN leaders are qualified to be the next PM if good ties with the palace are a requirement.

• Umno supreme council member says this after Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal names four Bersatu and PAS leaders as possible PN prime ministerial candidates.

• Puad tells Bersatu MP to not exploit palace sentiments for cheap political gain.

An Umno leader has pointed out that if the next prime minister must be one who can maintain a good relationship with the palace, then no one from Perikatan Nasional would make the cut.

Mohd Puad Zarkashi said this in response to Bersatu MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal stating yesterday that good ties with royals were one of the most important criteria PN should consider when choosing their poster boy.

“If that is the case, none of PN’s leaders are eligible. They defied the advice of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to not hold a gathering (in solidarity with incarcerated ex-PM Najib Abdul Razak) at the Palace of Justice on Jan 6.

“Moreover, (PN chief) Muhyiddin (Yassin) himself rejected the palace’s advice to join the unity government.

“Not only that, the Malay rulers rejected his proposal to continue the state of emergency and suspend Parliament (during the Covid-19 pandemic),” Puad (above) said on Facebook today.

The Umno supreme council member was referring to the hung Parliament situation following the 2022 general election where Muhyiddin rejected the king’s advice for PN to form a unity government with Pakatan Harapan and how the former premier wanted to extend Covid-19 measures during the pandemic.

Puad called on Wan Fayhsal to stop dragging the Malay rulers into PN’s political agenda.

“The bottom line is, do not exploit palace sentiments for cheap political gain,” he added.

Potential candidates

Yesterday, Wan Fayhsal named four leaders from Bersatu and PAS who he felt fit the bill of being PN’s prime ministerial candidate.

“As a senior statesperson, Muhyiddin surely has a good standing and relationship with the royals.

“But among other leaders who also have the potential (to be prime minister), and have good relationships with the Malay rulers, are Hamzah Zainudin and Ahmad Samsuri (Mokhtar). Tuan Ibrahim (Tuan Man) too when it comes to his relationship with the Pahang palace,” he said.

This came amid PAS pushing for its own leaders to be PN’s pick for PM.

PAS has 43 parliamentary seats in the Dewan Rakyat to Bersatu’s 25.

Ineffective as opposition

Meanwhile, DAP MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid brushed off PAS’ ambitions to administer Malaysia, saying the Islamist party could not even govern the states it controls properly.

“The general election is still far away but they are already busy lobbying to become prime minister,” she said on X.

The Bukit Bendera MP pointed out PAS’ ineffectiveness in Parliament, often raising only 3R issues.

“Their representatives are constantly losing lawsuits. If not for defamation, they are forced to retract their statements and even apologise.

“And that’s even without mentioning their (rocky) relationship with their component parties (in PN),” Syerleena said.

In December last year, the Georgetown High Court ruled in favour of the DAP trio’s defamation suit against PAS MP Siti Mastura Muhammad.

This is over Siti Mastura’s claims linking Lim Kit Siang, DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok to the late Communist Party of Malaya supremo Chin Peng.

Judge Quay Chew Soon ordered Siti Mastura to pay a total of RM750,000 in damages to the DAP trio - specifically RM300,000 to Kit Siang, RM250,000 to Guan Eng and RM200,000 to Kok.

The judge also imposed a five percent annual interest if the Kepala Batas MP failed to pay the amounts and ordered her to pay costs of RM25,000 each to the three DAP leaders.

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