JOHOR BARU: Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is following in the footsteps of his friends in PAS by issuing political fatwa as he deems fit, says Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
The Pulai Umno chief added that it was easy for the Bersatu president to say it was "haram (sinful)" to vote for Pakatan Harapan’s Pulai by-election candidate Suhaizan Kayat and a sign of protest against the people’s hardship under the unity government.
“If we look back, the people suffered more during Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister until some had to wave white flags as they did not have enough to eat.
“In such a difficult time, what did the Pagoh MP do? He and his friends were busy enacting an Emergency Act and even locked up Parliament. Is that not haram as well?” Nur Jazlan asked in a Facebook post here Monday (Sept 4).
Nur Jazlan, who is also an Umno supreme council member, added that whatever that has happened to Muhyiddin and Bersatu since stepping down from the prime minister's post to these twin by-elections was karma for all his previous betrayals.
“Not only did he betray Umno but he also betrayed the people’s trust that looked highly to his clean image.
“Everything is because of Bersatu’s foolishness and retribution for their treachery towards Umno while putting their entire trust in PAS.
“Even though now, Bersatu can walk with its chest out for winning more seats compared to Umno in the 15th General Election (GE15) and the six state elections, but it is not certain that they will be able to defend all those seats in GE16,” he said.
Nur Jazlan added it was a fact that the reason that Bersatu's recent victories were because the Malays supported PAS in Perikatan and not because of Bersatu.
He said that Bersatu would soon realise that PAS would no longer be the second party in Perikatan but more of the master party within their coalition.
On Saturday night, during a Perikatan ceramah at Taman Kempas here, Muhyiddin had deemed it “haram” or sinful to vote for Suhaizan in the Pulai by-election.
“Do not give even one vote to Suhaizan, the ex-(Johor) speaker. I deem it as haram.
“Tomorrow someone will challenge me on what this fatwa is based on,” the former prime minister quipped.
The by-election for the Pulai parliamentary seat and Simpang Jeram state seat were held following the death of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub who was respectively the MP and assemblyman for the seats.
Pakatan’s Suhaizan is in a three-cornered fight against Perikatan’s Zulkifli Jaafar and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.
Pulai is a mixed seat with Malays making up 44.18% of the total 166,653 registered voters, followed by the Chinese (40.46%), Indians (12.31%) and other ethnicities (3.06%).
In GE15 held in November last year, Salahuddin had defended the seat and won with 64,900 votes, which gave him a 33,174 majority against Barisan Nasional-Umno’s Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (31,726 votes) and Loh Kah Yong from Perikatan-Gerakan (20,677 votes).
