Mukhriz: My father was bullied by Bersatu leaders, he cried thrice!
PUCHONG: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad broke down thrice during the fateful meeting of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) on Feb 23, where some its leaders were forcing the nonagenarian to pull out the party from the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
These leaders made the demand as they thought PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was plotting to oust Mahathir for the premiership, Kedah menteri besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said today.
Mukhriz, who is the youngest son of Mahathir, revealed that he sat in the meeting dumbfounded by the sheer bullying by several Bersatu leaders during the discussions.
Despite being bullied by his own team members, Muhkriz said that his father stood firm.
“Each time, Mahathir reminded them of his principle of not working with Umno en bloc. If Umno wants back in, their good leaders should exit the party and join Bersatu,” Mukhriz said.
“If they had persisted further, I would have lost my temper with them. How can they treat my father like this? Things were heated.”
In the end, some leaders betrayed Mahathir, Mukhriz said in a briefing with Bersatu grassroots at Seri Mentaloon.
He singled out the traitors as former Umno strongman Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, who he alleged of having joined Bersatu with the hidden agenda to weaken the party.
Then, there was Mahathir’s political secretary Zahid Md Arip and eighth Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who conspired to take the party out with the intention to overthrow Pakatan, he added.
Mukhriz said Mahathir had resigned as Bersatu chairman and earlier as the prime minister because of what had transpired in the meeting.
“Mahathir did it because he no longer commanded the support from his own party,” he said.
Bersatu will embark on a road show to explain to the grassroots what had transpired and also begin preparations to challenge the move to form a federal government through the backdoor.
“It is learnt that there are also attempts to remove Muhyiddin from Bersatu now,” claimed Mukhriz.