The idea to form Perikatan Nasional (PN) came from ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself as a way to make him a prime minister supported by all MPs across all parties, claimed Senior Minister Azmin Ali.

Azmin, who was a key figure in the collapse of the elected Pakatan Harapan federal government and it's replacement by the PN administration of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, told The Star in an exclusive interview that the plan was to have held a general election by October, but that was shelved due to the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Perikatan is not a backdoor government as there was a...