KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that newly sworn-in Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin does not have majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.

Claiming that Muhyiddin is not the rightful prime minister, Dr Mahathir said the people are seeing a man, who has not garnered the support of the majority of the MPs, become the premier.

“It is very strange that after the election, the winners should form government, but here we will see the the losers from the same election form the government while the winners become the opposition, ” he told a press conference at Yayasan Al-Bukhary yesterday.

However, Dr Mahathir said he was not going to the palace to present the list of 114 MPs backing him.

“The Yang di-Pertuan Agong will not see me anymore and thus appointed Muhyiddin as the prime minister.

“I do not have the chance to tell him that Muhyiddin does not have the majority support. That is the situation, ” Dr Mahathir said.

Once Muhyiddin is sworn in as the eighth prime minister, Dr Mahathir’s tenure as the interim prime minister also ended.

“We have the majority. We have 114 MPs who backed us but apparently that is being ignored.

“Muhyiddin claimed he has full support of all Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia MPs but of out 36 MPs, six have refused to support him, namely myself and my son Mukhriz. He doesn’t have the majority, we do, ” he said.

Dr Mahathir added that he had the majority support of 114 MPs drawn from his coalition Pakatan Harapan, Parti Warisan Sabah and several independent MPs and some from his own party Bersatu.

“Tan Sri Muhyiddin does not have the majority support to become the new prime minister, ” he said.

On the next step for Pakatan, Dr Mahathir said Pakatan would call for an urgent parliamentary sitting.

“We will see who has the majority then, ” he said.

The Langkawi MP also said that he was betrayed by Muhyiddin.

“I feel betrayed, mostly by Muhyiddin. He has been working on this for a long time and now he has succeeded, ” he said.

Asked whether he was upset with Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Dr Mahathir said Azmin had his own agenda.

“He has this whole agenda and chose to work with Muhyiddin, ” Dr Mahathir said.

On the future of Bersatu, Dr Mahathir said it was up to the party to decide whether to expel him as the chairman or not.

“It is going to happen because majority has rejected me as chairman. They can officially seek and expel (me), ” he said.

Asked whether he regretted resigning as prime minister, Dr Mahathir said he had no other choice.

“I had no choice because when I saw the coalition that was going to be formed by Bersatu, it was with Umno en-bloc.

“That means I would have to accept the people I fought against, that I am not prepared to do but Muhyiddin was prepared to do so, ” he said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/03/02/dr-m-muhyiddin-is-not-rightful-pm