Barisan Nasional's loss of support from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have little impact on the coalition's performance in the next general election.
Barisan Nasional Back Benchers Club (BNBBC) chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad said previous election performances by Barisan had shown that Dr Mahathir's support or lack of it did not do much on its standing.
"When he was against Pak Lah (former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), he campaigned against us in 2008.
"In 2013, he campaigned for us, however, we still lost by a reduced margin. These are the facts, so do you think he (Dr Mahathir) is still relevant?" he told a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday.
Shahrir was asked to comment on the likelihood of Barisan seeing a reduced support in the 14th general election following the mounting criticism by Dr Mahathir.
He cited the example of the 1997 crisis which split Umno, leading to the formation of a splinter party, Semangat 46.
"Parti Bersatu Sabah even left the coalition. However, we went to the polls and managed to pull through," he said.
On a separate issue, Shahrir acknowledged Dr Mahathir's observation that any move to topple the government through a motion of no confidence in Parliament would not succeed.
"It is a wise statement by Tun Mahathir," he added.
In his blog, Dr Mahathir said there would be insufficient numbers from Barisan lawmakers to support the motion as "they are beholden to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak."
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3 comments:
Agreed,mahathir is not relevant, bcos he becomes stupid by days till he kicks the bucket
Masa pak lah dia kata beholden to pak lah.
Since he keep winning ge with 2/3 majority, would that mean the rakyat were beholden to him? Tun should snap out of his sleep. Time has changed.
Bit late in commenting here but I want to say I disagree with Shahir. He is happy with Najib because he himself said he got RM1 million from Najib as running expenses for Johor bahru UMNO of which he is the Chief.
No small amount, innit? And Ahmad Maslan was said to have received RM2 mill for his division.
Pretty neat sums.
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