Tony Pua lashes out at opposition after Ismail confirmed for top post

Less than hour after the palace confirmation that Ismail Sabri Yaakob would be sworn in as the ninth prime minister, DAP’s Damansara MP Tony Pua appeared to have launched a scathing attack on fellow opposition leaders over the way they handled the latest political crisis.

Pua, who had already courted criticism for urging the party to accept a list of reforms under the cross-party consensus offered by outgoing prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, said Pakatan Harapan (PH) had been delivered a double blow by the outcome of the crisis.

“Getting kicked out of government in February 2020 was bad.

“But playing a major starring role in returning power to Umno? Devastating,” he said, referring to PH’s ejection from 22 months of power last year.

The top PH leadership had joined Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former leader Najib Razak in pressing for the resignation of Muhyiddin.

They also rejected Muhyiddin’s promise to undertake a list of reforms long championed by PH in exchange for their support to prevent the collapse of the Perikatan Nasional government in the midst of the pandemic.

Pua and fellow DAP MP Ong Kian Ming had openly urged party leaders to consider the offer from Muhyiddin, saying it would also prevent the return of “kleptocrats”, a reference to Najib and Zahid, who between them are facing more than 80 corruption charges.