KUALA LUMPUR,Sept 2: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was the first MP to sign the statutory declaration (SD) in support of Muhyiddin Yassin to become the eighth prime minister.
This was revealed by Muhyiddin himself in his speech at the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Administration’s Half-Year Convention here yesterday.
Muhyiddin said it was Hadi’s move that prompted other PN-aligned MPs to do the same during their individual meeting with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at Istana Negara last February.
“They were invited by Sultan Abdullah to the palace to sign the SD and I want to inform you that the first SD was Haji Hadi’s.
“He was the first to put my name on the SD paper,” he said.
Last February, the King had consented to conduct an interview with all 222 MPs individually to identify who had the majority support to be appointed PM.
“Personally, I didn’t expect to become the PM.
“There was no plot, no extraordinary political scheme to take over or topple someone, but it happened following a political crisis that was quite critical at that time, which we all knew,” Muhyiddin said.
For a government without a specific manifesto, he said, it was hard for the people to evaluate the performance of the PN government.
“However, this does not mean I can do things as I like. No manifesto does not mean I don’t have a responsibility or accountability to the people.
“I still have to demonstrate accountability as a leader,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the PN government was not formed as a result of a general election but was based on provisions in the Federal Constitution.
Therefore, the PN government does not have any manifesto or promises which are usually presented to the people during election campaigns, he added.
