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21 November 2018
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said he was not involved in apparent efforts to court Pakatan Harapan MPs to form a coalition with Umno immediately after the May 9 elections.
“If others did it, I wouldn’t know. But, on that night, there were no instructions from me (to do so),” he said.
Najib said this when asked to respond to claims by his successor Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malay-Muslim Harapan MPs received such overtures in the immediate aftermath of BN’s loss in the May 9 elections.
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Meanwhile, Rembau MP and former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin told reporters that he was unaware of events described by Mahathir.
“I don’t know what the prime minister meant. I was with Najib on that night after the results for Rembau was announced. I was at Najib’s residence (in Kuala Lumpur).
“There were no efforts by Najib, (his then deputy) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Hishammuddin Hussein, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and I to entice MPs (to join Umno).
“Najib said clearly that we must accept the results and the following day, we will announce that BN accepted the election results. The appointment of the prime minister would be left to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” said Khairy.
Khairy declined to speculate if Mahathir’s remarks were an attempt to slander BN.
“I am not sure what information the prime minister has. I can only speak based on what I saw and heard. I was with Najib (that night). What people did beyond Najib’s residence, I am not sure of,” he said.
He added that had there been an attempt to persuade rival MPs to cross over, there would have been efforts to gain permission from the top.
“It was clear there were no efforts to buy over MPs or plans to cause chaos or riots,” he said.
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20 November 2018
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PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revealed that there were attempts to persuade Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Malay elected representatives to jump ship to Umno and PAS after the announcement of the 14th general election results.
In an interview published in regional magazine Mekong Review, Mahathir admitted the coalition had faced “lots of difficulties” in the hours after the election, including attempts from within PH to reject its own success.
“It had to do with racial and religious politics. There was a fear that our coalition was not going to respect the position of Islam as much as the previous government had, so there was an idea that if the Muslims all came together – the new opposition were largely Muslim, with Umno and PAS – they could drag other Muslims (from our coalition), have the majority and form a Malay-Muslim government, but they were advised against that.
“So the transition was smooth from the outside, but it was not very smooth from the inside. We had lots of difficulties, including attempts from within to reject our success, but in the end better sense prevailed,” he said in the interview with Eddin Khoo, a journalist and founder-director of cultural organisation Pusaka.
Mahathir said if PH’s Malay representatives had been persuaded to cross over, Umno and PAS would have had the majority to form the government.
He also said the delay in announcing the election results was due to such behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.
“We knew we had won by 8.30pm, but we didn’t get the official announcement until about 2am, because during that short period of time there was a lot of manoeuvring, which was not visible to the people. We knew, and later we learnt even more about it.”
Mahathir said PH had expected to lose in the May 9 polls because the government then was so powerful. He also claimed it was doing all kinds of “improper things” including acts of bribery and threats.
“I thought that if they lost they would not accept the result, but they lost by such a big margin that they were caught off guard and did not know what to do. Great numbers had supported the opposition, and there were also people who advised the government to accept the results.”
Mahathir added that a certain mindset was needed before democracy could succeed.
“When a country suddenly becomes democratic, it cannot really handle the kind of freedom that comes with democracy. And because of that it tends to slip back into its old ways.
“Malaysia succeeded because, though we tried to bring down the government by other means, we didn’t become violent, we didn’t take to the streets, we didn’t sabotage things, we didn’t assassinate people. We were forced to wait until there was an election,” he said in the interview.
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