Pakatan Harapan leaders were bracing for a bombshell when Prime Minister Naib Abdul Razak summoned top Umno leaders from across the country to Kuala Lumpur for a highly anticipated announcement.
However, when the announcement finally came, they were in stitches that top Umno leaders were made to abandon their programmes to attend the announcement of former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib's return to Umno.
Prior to Muhammad's return, he had joined PAS in 2013 and PKR in 2015.
"Sau Kaw Po Ji... kah kah kah," was Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali's immediate reaction, which was in Cantonese, meaning "collecting old newspaper".
"The press conference disturbed the quality weekend time of Malaysians.
"I want to go jogging with my family," added Azmin on Twitter.
Sau Kaw Po Ji.........kah kah kah
— Mohamed Azmin Ali (@AzminAli) September 17, 2017
Menganggu quality time rakyat Malaysia di hujung minggu dengan PC tadi.
— Mohamed Azmin Ali (@AzminAli) September 17, 2017
"To a prime minister who kept the whole country in suspense: What a joke," said PKR vice president Tian Chua on the micro-blogging site.
To a prime minister who kept the whole country in suspense: What a joke!
— Tian Chua (@tianchua) September 17, 2017
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had to abandon his programmes in Perlis to return to Kuala Lumpur while International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Ahmad Maslan had flown in from Sabah.
"It's a pity that the people of Perlis couldn't meet Zahid because of #MatLompat (political frog)," said PKR Youth deputy chief Afif Bahardin.
Afif joked that Najib had summoned the entire Umno leadership to distribute souvenirs from his recent overseas trips.
"Actually Najib summoned all Umno supreme council members to distribute fridge magnets from US and UK to them," he said on Twitter.
Sebenarnya Najib panggil semua MT sebab nak agih2 fridge magnet dari US dgn UK dekat MT UMNO. Hangpa mana tau! 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/gW6BBqgrPH
— Dr. Afif Bahardin (@afifbahardin) September 17, 2017
As for Muhammad, Afif said his presence was "never felt" in PKR and that he will "not be missed".
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was also disappointed by the announcement.
"All the suspense just for this? grrrrr," he said.
Syed Saddiq said he had thought the prime minister would have announced the dissolution of Parliament.
That's it?!
— Syed Saddiq (@SyedSaddiq) September 17, 2017
Ingat berani nak bubar parlimen 😅
Saya rasa Najib pun tahu, kalau parlimen dibubarkan sekarang, UMNO-BN akan tewas.
DAP's Teng Chang Khim, who is a Selangor senior exco had initially speculated that Najib would announce PAS' withdrawal from the Selangor government.
After the announcement, Teng tweeted: "Hahahahahaha! Sorry! I overestimated PM".
Hahahahahaha! Sorry! I overestimated PM. 😂😂😂
— Teng Chang Khim (@tengchangkhim) September 17, 2017
Hahahahahaha! Mohon maaf! Saya silap, ingatkan PM kita hebat... https://t.co/EqwgOgOEGH
Other Twitter reactions are as follows:
Sia-sia jugak saya menonton PC itu tadi.
— Mehmed Azeem (@AzeembinRidzo) September 17, 2017
You could have just tweeted that @NajibRazak
— Aysha Ridzuan (@ayshardzn) September 17, 2017
The so called " important announcement" by Najib is......wa Ka Ka Ka Ka ....😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/8BNpZRXmjp
— Nga Kor Ming 倪可敏 (@ngakorming) September 17, 2017
Najib calls for major PressCon just to waste the nation's time on a Sunday w some news which could've easily been announced on Mon newspaper
— Henna Sanghvi (@hennaSanghvi) September 17, 2017
Sukacita saya umumkan Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib telah kembali sertai UMNO. Beliau sedar perjuangan pembangkang terutamanya PKR sia-sia pic.twitter.com/ajR4cYuFJ5
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) September 17, 2017
