Umno agreed to form Perikatan govt for just one year, says Najib

(FMT) – Following last year’s political instability, Umno only agreed to form a temporary government with Bersatu on the condition that the general election be held within a year, says Najib Razak.

The former prime minister said this came after their call for Parliament to be dissolved was not approved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers last year.

However, he said Umno did not expect the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s poor management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which involved making repeated mistakes.

He said these were big mistakes that prevented elections from being held, despite the emergency being enforced for seven months now.

“It seems as if these mistakes were intentional,” he said in a Facebook post.

He explained that this was why Umno decided to withdraw support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and suggested an interim government to take over for three to six months.

Najib also attached a video of Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS leaders from February 2020, where they called for the dissolution of Parliament to give way for elections and return the mandate to the people due to the political uncertainty then.

He said the Umno Supreme Council’s decision two days ago was consistent with its stance a year ago.

Najib said the party understood that the country was facing two issues, one of which was the people remaining under lockdown without sources of income for almost six months.

According to him, the people have lost confidence in the PN administration’s efforts to curb the spread of the virus after multiple failed lockdowns.

“What’s most shocking is that the majority of the people believe the government’s efforts to battle Covid have hidden political agendas, with the aim of prolonging the crisis to remain in power,” he said.

Najib said another issue was a government that had been described as unstable and backdoor, with a slim majority built on “betrayal and the power of (political) frogs, not the power of the people”.

He said the current situation cannot continue any longer, and power must be returned to the people to build a strong and competent elected government.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi previously announced that the party was formally withdrawing its support for Muhyiddin and also called for his resignation.