Bung: Dr M masterminded fall of PBS govt – now it’s coming back to ‘bite him’


(Malaysiakini) – Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin has reminded ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad of his role in the collapse of the Parti Bersatu Sabah-led government in Sabah in 1994, saying that the latter should not be too surprised over the fall of the Pakatan Harapan administration.

“He was prime minister then and behind the move to topple the PBS-led Sabah government in 1994 when mass defections took place from the party to BN,” said Bung (photo, above), according to a report by news portal Free Malaysia Today.

“This is a case of what he did before coming back to bite him,” he added.

Bung, who is also Sabah Umno chief said he was puzzled to hear Mahathir’s laments about the defection of Bersatu MPs who abandoned Harapan to be part of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

PBS headed by then Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan had pulled out of Mahathir’s BN coalition in the run-up to the 1990 General Election, and the latter responded by opening up Umno branches in Sabah.

Even though Pairin scored a narrow win in the 1994 Sabah state elections, Mahathir’s coalition wooed his elected representatives, and the government fell as PBS assemblypersons defected in droves to Umno or formed splinter parties that joined BN.

Bung went on to dispute Mahathir’s interpretation of the toppling of the Harapan government as a plot.
“How can it be a plot if he (Mahathir) resigned? No one even knew the Harapan government was going to fall at the time.

“Mahathir stepped down as PM on his own accord, which meant his government had fallen,” he said.

Bung added that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had every right to call for the formation of a new government by a leader who had majority support.

 



Comments
Loading...