PAS declined Opposition chief post, reveals Muhyiddin
In an interview with news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT), he said prior to appointing his PN and Bersatu’s Secretary General Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin in the post, he had told PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang to nominate a candidate, but PAS declined.
(The Malaysian Reserve) – PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) revealed that PAS declined the Opposition Leader post despite having the highest number of MPs with 43 compared to 30 in his party Bersatu after the last general election (GE15).
In an interview with news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT), he said prior to appointing his PN and Bersatu’s Secretary General Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin in the post, he had told PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang to nominate a candidate, but PAS declined.
“And I thought that since I was once leader of the government, the opportunity of opposition leader should be given to Hamzah as the PN and Bersatu secretary-general.
“I don’t want to monopolise everything,” he said, referring to party posts. “I am known as a former prime minister, so parliamentary duties should be given to a younger person,” he said as reported by FMT.
Traditionally, the post of the opposition leader is assumed by the head of a party or coalition.
Muhyiddin also denies the criticism that the coalition is weak because he as the top leader did not assume such post.
Instead the former prime minister said while he could easily have a “monopoly” on such posts, he was looking to the future and wanted to train Hamzah, who he described as a fresh face.
In the same interview published yesterday, Muhyiddin said support for PAS had been stagnant before it teamed up with Bersatu under the PN banner.
He surmised before the coalition was formed, Hadi won general elections with a majority of 10,000 to 15,000 votes — but this jumped to a 40,000-vote majority in the 15th general election.
“Previously the number of votes Hadi and PAS won was stagnant, but with PN, they recorded phenomenal majorities,” Muhyiddin said as reported by FMT.
