Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin appears to have forgotten his previous role in government. — Bernama pic
JOHOR BARU, Feb 22 — A Johor Umno leader today hit out at former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for threatening to leak evidence of the country’s alleged troubled finances, describing it as a form of “political intimidation” in the run-up to Johor polls.
Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Muhyiddin appears to have forgotten his previous role in government.
“Let us not forget that when the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, Muhyiddin as prime minister spent a whopping RM600 billion.
“My question is where did the money come from if he claims that Barisan Nasional (BN) had bankrupted the country first?
“Now, Muhyiddin says that he wants to leak the status of our national finances. Who is it exactly that he wants to trap with his latest scare tactic?” questioned Nur Jazlan when contacted by Malay Mail for his comment on Muhyiddin’s recent unprovoked criticism of the current BN government ahead of the Johor state election next month.
Nur Jazlan was responding to news reports on February 19 stating that the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president and Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief had claimed the country was in desperate financial straits, far worse than what the BN-led federal government had let on.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Pagoh MP, had claimed that BN’s “business as usual” approach would not be able to secure the country’s future at a time when even countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia were overtaking Malaysia in terms of economic development.
At the same time, Muhyiddin also reminded Johoreans to think about the country’s finances and the prospects of BN securing the federal treasury again.
Nur Jazlan pointed out that Muhyiddin himself was complicit when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government claimed that Malaysia would go bankrupt and set up the Tabung Harapan fund in 2018 to solicit donations from Malaysians to strengthen the government’s finances.
“At that time, Muhyiddin himself was also part of the PH administration that greedily sold the country’s assets and increased the country’s debt, but he remained silent.
“But now he is fond of issuing threats to BN at a time when Johor is gearing up for polls,” said Nur Jazlan, who described Muhyiddin’s constant attacks as “political backstabbing”.
Nur Jazlan also said Muhyiddin’s threat to leak the documents bordered on law-breaking as the country’s financial status is protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972, and therefore, was confidential.
The former parliamentarian and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman reminded Muhyiddin that he should not be in possession of such classified information as he is neither a Cabinet member nor the prime minister anymore.
“Look, I’m not questioning the fact that Muhyiddin can gain access to the country’s economic report if he got the Cabinet’s permission.
“But to issue such threats to divulge the country’s financial position publicly is completely unacceptable, let alone coming from a former prime minister.
“The threat is clear enough to show Muhyiddin’s true character,” said Nur Jazlan.
The Pulai Umno division chief said Muhyiddin, who now heads the National Recovery Council (NRC), was willing to politicise anything, including the country’s economic report for political gain, and that the latter’s support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob falls into question now.
“Muhyiddin’s statement is clearly political intimidation running up to the Johor state election. This is the same as the previous threat of withdrawing his administration’s support from the Johor government of BN’s Datuk Hasni Mohammad with ‘the press of a button’.
“Muhyiddin’s action is not supportive, but an attempt to show the flaws of the current government,” said Nur Jazlan.
On November 10, at the start of the Melaka election campaign, Muhyiddin created a stir after saying he could trigger political instability in Johor “with the press of a button” if he wanted to.
Following that, PN took a beating in the Melaka polls where the coalition, consisting of lynchpin Bersatu, together with PAS and Parti Gerakan Malaysia (Gerakan), only managed to win two out of 28 seats.
At present, Umno and Bersatu, together with their BN and PN coalitions, are nominally allied in Ismail Sabri’s federal administration but have been openly hostile towards each other in virtually all other settings.
For the upcoming Johor polls, both BN and PN are expected to lock horns in all 56 state seats that are up for grabs.
The Election Commission (EC) has set March 12 as polling day, with nomination day on February 26 and early voting on March 8.