PETALING JAYA: Calling himself and his fellow party leaders people who “made sacrifices to save the country”, Hamzah Zainudin is proposing a grand coalition to officially unite Perikatan National (PB), Barisan Nasional (BN) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
The PPBM secretary-general said today this would ensure continuity of the informal consensus the parties had reached when they took over Putrajaya after Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation in February.
“Therefore, a Charter of Political Understanding among these three coalitions of big parties must be realised immediately,” he said in a statement.
With the signing of this charter, Hamzah said, the rakyat will be more confident as there will be political stability and country would continue to be governed through policies that defend the rakyat.
“As an inclusive coalition, all party leaders who join it should be given equal space and opportunity to voice their opinions and views.
“Taking into account the wishes of all parties, no matter how big or small, regardless of which race, ethnicity and religion they represent, this idea will be able to produce a manifesto that truly meets the needs of all levels of Malaysians,” the Larut MP said.
He also spoke on the how the governing PN and various parties from the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak had to jump in to “save” the country for the Bumiputeras when, he claimed, it was facing a political and racial crisis under Pakatan Harapan.
“In reality, PN was born at a time when the country was facing a worsening political and racial crisis. The need to form a new government arose as the rakyat were unhappy with some policies and actions of the PH government,” he said.
To make the plans a success, he said, some MPs had to make sacrifices by joining the new coalition.
“Therefore, there is no question of whether they are traitors or thorns in the flesh of any party that they once represented. What is more important is that the goal of overthrowing PH and forming a new government was achieved.”
The home affairs minister further said PH’s 22 months witnessed the failure of the coalition to fulfill its manifesto promises, with disputes over the special rights of the Malays, a weakening economy, and disputes over a wide range of issues affecting the rakyat and the country.
Due to this, he said, the current governing coalition was set up as a result of an understanding between PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang after the surprise resignation of Mahathir as prime minister on Feb 23.
He further said the coalition was fully supported by the presidents of GPS, STAR and PBS.
“All the party leaders had unanimously agreed to endorse the PPBM president as the new prime minister and it was approved by Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” he said.
As a result of this, he said, several discussions were held among MPs representing the political parties who shared the same aspiration to formulate strategies and to save the country.
He further said that to ensure continuity, the position of state governments was also taken into account.
“Political cooperation was not forged on the basis of the party with the largest number of state assemblymen, also on the basis of mutual agreement between all parties involved.”
He explaind that the posts of chief minister and menteri bsar had to be decided by consensus to maintain strong and political cooperation. Citing the state of Perak, he said the post of menteri besar was under PPBM before the formation of PN.
In Johor, he said, it was agreed that the post be handed over to Umno although it originally belonged to PPBM.
“This makes the total number of states led by representatives from Umno to four states including Melaka, Perlis and Pahang.”
As for PAS, Hamzah said the agreement was reached where the Islamist party would head Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah while GPS would head Sarawak.