KULAI: PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin has vowed to battle PAS and any other party that collaborates with Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election (GE14).
Muhyiddin, who is also one of three Pakatan Harapan (PH) deputy presidents, said it was essential for component parties in the opposition coalition to set aside their differences and pool their resources together to defeat BN and whoever was cooperating with it.
“Whoever supports BN, such as PAS, come under one group. We are in another group. The people have two choices, BN or PH. There is no option in between.
“If PAS is not with us, we will fight them too,” he said in a speech at the Johor Amanah convention held here today.
The former deputy prime minister’s assertion appeared to back that of PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had said on Sept 6 that PH had decided not to work with PAS as there was no way the pact could accept the Islamist party into the grouping.
The former prime minister had also reminded Malaysians that in GE14 a vote for PAS would be a vote for BN.
Muhyiddin, who is Johor PPBM chairman and PH deputy president, also said it would be difficult to topple BN due to the strong machinery and support that the ruling coalition had.
“We are in quite a difficult situation as we face abuse of power. Our country was once known for observing the rule of law but it’s no longer the case. Instead, the law is used to protect certain quarters and not the majority of the people,” he said.
“Because of that we have to make orderly preparations. We want to topple a government that has ruled for 60 years by having used its power and money,” he said.
Muhyiddin, who was sacked from Umno in June last year, urged PH grassroots members to plan and coordinate their programmes properly while setting aside their differences.
He said as they were part of a “common struggle” they needed to rid their hearts of negativity towards each other.
Muhyiddin, who was Johor menteri besar from 1986 to 1995, said the opposition needed to gain the support of the Malays to ensure their efforts to defeat BN in the general election succeed.
“We need to increase Malay backing, whether in Malay-majority areas or non-majority ones. This is a priority,” he said.
“It is not that we take the support of Chinese and Indians for granted, but the Malay support is crucial.”
Muhyiddin also likened PH’s struggle to that of the Muhajirin, the first converts to Islam under Prophet Muhammad, in battling the Jahiliah who did not believe in the faith in ancient Arabia.
He said PH was in a similar vein mounting a challenge against a BN government that had allegedly caused damage to Malaysia.
“We are the Muhajirin group because we are faced with hostility from the Jahiliah who appear smart but are actually stupid and have brought huge losses to the various institutions in the country,” he said.
Post a Comment