Salleh: Najib defended PM, Muhyiddin didn’t
Minister challenges story about challenge to Pak Lah and Muhyiddin calling himself a loyalist
(Free Malaysia Today) – Communications and Multimedia minister Salleh Said Keruak has challenged Muhyiddin Yassin’s version of history by pointing out that Najib Razak, as deputy to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had refused to betray his prime minister in 2009.
In a blog posting today, Salleh contrasted Najib’s behaviour to that of Muhyiddin who had “said and did nothing to defend Abdullah” when the then prime minister and Umno president came under attack from Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Salleh’s article was a riposte to Muhyiddin’s widely-publicised account yesterday of how he had persuaded Najib in 2009 to challenge Abdullah and how, on his own part, had refused Dr Mahathir’s request to take on the challenge himself.
“What Muhyiddin did not reveal was that Najib had refused to betray Tun Abdullah and instead publicly declared his support for the Prime Minister,” said Salleh.
Muhyiddin was dismissed as deputy prime minister in late July after he began questioning the reported deposit of RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank account in 2013 and has allied himself with Mahathir’s yearlong campaign to oust Najib as Umno president and prime minister.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin had related at a forum in Johor Baru how it was he who convinced Najib to take over as Prime Minister and that this was what Dr Mahathir wanted. “What Muhyiddin left out from this story is that Najib did not want to betray the Prime Minister by going against him,” Salleh said.
“Najib felt the deputy should be loyal to the number one. So it is not that Najib took a long time to make up his mind but more that Najib did not want to oust the Prime Minister,” Salleh said. “If Muhyiddin wants to relate history then let it be the correct version of history.
