Muhyiddin tells why he met with Dr Mahathir

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin today said that his meeting with Dr Mahathir Mohamad which the latter confirmed yesterday had been arranged as part of an initiative by several leaders from parties other than Barisan Nasional (BN) to form an alliance and prevent multi-cornered fights at the 15th general election (GE15).

Muhyiddin said the leaders had understood that while the majority of the people did not support BN due to its kleptocratic image, the “anti-BN” vote was split due to multi-way fights among the other political parties.

“They were of the opinion that, as far as possible, multi-cornered fights should be avoided at GE15 to block the kleptocrats in BN from returning to power.

“Therefore, I took the initiative to meet with the main leaders of political parties in the government as well as the opposition to pioneer a cooperation for GE15,” he said in a statement, adding that this had been an early step to obtain the views of party leaders and that no firm decision had been made.

“My meeting with Mahathir which was arranged after a senior leader from Pejuang came to meet me was part of that initiative,” he said.

Mahathir said yesterday that he had met with Muhyiddin and that the Bersatu leader had asked for his support.

He also said he was unsure why his former ally had done this as Pejuang was not a strong party and had recently suffered defeat at both the Melaka and Johor state elections.

His comments came after his son and Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said that Muhyiddin had met with Mahathir to propose an alliance heading into GE15.

Mahathir also said that Pejuang had yet to decide whether to form a new coalition ahead of the next general election although his bloc was ready to work with parties that opposed corruption and bribery.