Hishamuddin says never betrayed Umno, calls for unity among leaders to regain public's trust
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein today clarified that he did not betray Umno after pledging support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the next prime minister after the 15th general elections (GE15).
The Sembrong MP said that forming an alliance with Pakatan Harapan (PH) was against Umno’s principles.
“But when the party has made a decision to remain neutral at one point, we withdraw the statutory declaration (SD).
“And after that when Agong told us to agree to form a unity government, we assumed that was the will of the party and we agreed. So where’s the betrayal?,” he told reporters after attending Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's official address at the party’s annual general assembly.
He also expressed his gratitude towards Zahid for forgiving the 10 Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs and urged the public to move on from discussing this.
He also urged Umno leaders to stop attacking each other.
“I hope what we can discuss in this year's assembly is the direction and how to reduce the gap of public trust towards the party.
“That is better than just using this platform to argue with each other,” he added.
The 10 BN lawmakers who allegedly pledged their allegiance to Muhyiddin by signing an SD were Tapah (Datuk Seri M Saravanan), Ayer Itam (Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong), Tanjong Piai (Datuk Seri Wee Jack Seng), Pensiangan (Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup), Kuala Pilah (Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan), Jelebu (Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias), Jempol (Datuk Shamshulkahar Deli), Simpang Renggam (Hasni Mohammad), Lipis (Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad), Tampin (Datuk Isam Isa).
Yesterday, Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman, said that he has forgiven the coalition’s 10 MPs who threw their support behind PN to form the federal government when the country was in a leadership deadlock after the general election two months ago.
However, Zahid indicated that it is not quite water under the bridge, saying that he will be watching the 10 MPs for any moves that could shake the coalition government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
