Puad: Dr M just wants to make Mukhriz PM

(Malay Mail Online) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s demand for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s resignation is motivated by his desire for his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, to become prime minister, an Umno leader alleged today.

Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi added that Dr Mahathir was so engrossed in his efforts to make Mukhriz the next prime minister that he was even willing to align himself with the “enemies” of the Malays and Islam.

“It is clear now that Tun Mahathir’s true motives for attacking Datuk Seri Najib, to bring him down, is because he wants Mukhriz to become prime minister,” he said in a statement today.

“Mahathir is too obsessed with the Mukhriz Agenda to become PM that he is willing to slander Datuk Seri Najib and sit at the same table with Lim Kit Siang, the enemy of the Malays and Islam,” he added.

He added that both Dr Mahathir and Mukhriz needed to understand that Umno will “reject” all leaders that are so “greedy” for power to the point that they were willing with work with a party like DAP.

“Mukhriz needs to know that there is no ‘short cut’ (sic) to become Umno president and prime minister,” he said.

He also told Malay Mail Online in a brief text message that he will propose a motion to sack Mukhriz and suspended deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the next Umno supreme council meeting, due to be held at the end of the month.

This comes after Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, also an Umno supreme council member, told the Malay Mail Online yesterday that he would “initiate the process” of having the duo “thrown out of the party.”

The Padang Rengas MP said he would also propose for the Umno supreme council to sit as a disciplinary board and decide what action should be taken against the suspended deputy president and the former Kedah mentri besar.

Muhyiddin lost his Cabinet position last year in a reshuffle and was suspended as Umno No. 2 in a unanimous decision by its supreme council last month for his vocal criticisms against the leadership.

Mukhriz was removed as Kedah mentri besar and state Umno liaison chief last month, months after he publicly criticised the Umno leadership.

Both men have said they will stay on in Umno despite speculation they would follow the footsteps of former president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad who quit the party on Monday.

Both Muhyiddin and Mukhriz were among the 58 prominent politicians on both sides of the divide and civil society leaders to join up in a common push for a new government, a movement spearheaded by Dr Mahathir last week.