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Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin has pledged his loyalty to UMNO
Speaking to the media yesterday, 8 August, Khairy affirmed that he is still loyal to his party, and will continue his ministerial responsibilities as well as spearheading the country’s vaccination programme.
“Let me do my job. The vaccination is a matter of the lives of Malaysians. So long as there is no vote (against the government), let me do my job,” he was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.
He stresses that while he remains an UMNO minister, once the scheduled no-confidence vote is put to Parliament in September, then the situation will be reassessed by him and his colleagues.
Image via Bernama/Malay Mail
He then elaborates on his decision by saying he has ‘trust issues’ with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
“I am still in the government because I have a trust issue with the UMNO President (Zahid).”
Zahid had earlier announced that UMNO has withdrawn support for the Perikatan Nasional government led by prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
UMNO members of parliament (MPs) were then asked to indicate their stance regarding the current government, which was rebuffed publicly by Nazri Aziz, reports Astro Awani.
Khairy states two instances which caused the trust issue, which were the letter Zahid allegedly wrote to the Yang Di Pertuan Agong (YDPA) last year, and the UMNO president’s leaked audio recording featuring Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, per Free Malaysia Today.
On 8 August, Zahid had claimed the withdrawal of support coincides with signed declarations (SDs) by UMNO MPs which were presented to the YDPA.
Image via New Straits Times
Both of his reasons given left Khairy to say “So how can I trust my president?”
He then refutes Zahid’s claims that UMNO’s withdrawal of support was made unanimously.
“The president said it was made unanimously by the UMNO supreme council. However, there are some MPs who made a decision different from that of the council,” Khairy clarified.
Meanwhile, in a report by Malaysiakini, Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob claimed that 31 Barisan Nasional MPs support the ruling coalition.
However, at least three UMNO MPs who were named by Ismail have stepped forward to deny the claim.