Muhyiddin’s division leaders stand by him
PETALING JAYA: Muhyiddin Yassin’s supporters in his former Umno division of Pagoh and its Youth wing are standing by him despite his expulsion from the party yesterday.
Branch leaders in the division rejected the decision of the party’s Supreme Council, according to Pagoh Umno information chief Hairul Izam Abd Samat.
The Youth wing viewed the decision as “a form of tyranny, and clearly a planned character assassination”, Pagoh Umno Youth chief Mohd Zaid A Rahman said in a separate statement.
Both of them said that the party had not followed proper procedure before the expulsion, as Muhyiddin had not been called to defend himself.
Muhyiddin was expelled together with Supreme Council member Mukhriz Mahathir. An ally, vice-president Shafie Apdal, was suspended. They had openly criticised party leader and Prime Minister Najib Razak last year about the affairs of 1Malaysia Development Berhad while Muhyiddin and Mukhriz had been part of the Citizens’ Declaration, a petition for Najib to be removed from office.
Hairul said Muhyiddin’s expulsion was a betrayal of Umno members who had elected him as the party’s deputy president. He said that Muhyiddin’s criticism of party leader and Prime Minister Najib Razak had been based upon reports by government agencies, and were made for the sake of the party, not out of self-interest.
Mohd Zaid called the decision an abuse of power by the Supreme Council.
“Did the supreme council think we would just accept this unethical decision with open hearts? If something like this can happen to the deputy president, what more to us normal members? What hope can we have on the current Umno?” he said.
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