Fresh leak of February Bersatu meeting suggests PM’s resignation was preplanned

(MMO) – Yet another leak purportedly from the Bersatu supreme council meeting on February 23 contained discussions of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as the prime minister for a realignment of the ruling parties at the time.

The clip was released on social media and discussions were again dominated by a single senior Bersatu leader.

In it, the Bersatu leader was heard discussing two scenarios for the realignment and argued that neither required the prime minister to resign.

“In our proposed exercise, it means the prime minister need not resign. This has been verified. I told the prime minister after consultation with a former CJ (chief justice), ‘No, we don’t have to resign,’” the person was heard saying.

“So in Situation A now, Tun is the prime minister and even if we move to (scenario) B Tun also need not resign and remains the prime minister.”

Dr Mahathir previously asserted that he was forced to resign as the prime minister as he lost the support of Bersatu for being unwilling to accept former rival Umno “en bloc”.

The speaker also asserted that it was the monarchy’s preference that Dr Mahathir remained the PM as it was allegedly not in favour of PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s candidacy.

This is the third such leak from the same Bersatu supreme council meeting prior to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February.

A previous leak featured the senior party leader telling the supreme council that the decision to leave PH should be decided by Dr Mahathir as the chairman and that he should be given a week to consider.

However, the so-called “Sheraton Move” was executed the same evening, leading to the eventual takeover of the government by the Perikatan Nasional informal coalition.

A second leak had the same speaker claiming rival lawmakers from Umno could be enticed into joining Bersatu with offers to make them federal ministers or as the heads of government-linked corporations.

Bersatu is locked in a civil war between the factions aligned with Dr Mahathir and president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

However, the party has since revoked the memberships of Dr Mahathir and leaders aligned with him for failing to support the Perikatan Nasional government that Muhyiddin headed as the prime minister.

Dr Mahathir has launched a legal challenge against the revocation.