YOURSAY | ‘Without Umno MPs’ support, Sheraton Move would not have happened.’

Zahid: Don't link Umno with 'backdoor' governments

Billy The Goat: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s speech during his keynote address at the party’s annual general assembly only reinforces the belief that Umno politicians are hypocrites who speak with forked tongues.

He both vainly and foolishly believes decent Malaysians will accept his nonsensical assertions that Umno wasn’t involved in the backdoor government.

Without Umno MPs supporting it, the Sheraton Move would have never taken place. Without Umno, in all likelihood, this country would have been on the path of a good recovery.

So, wouldn’t Umno smell just as bad as the “rubbish” it directly got involved with and therefore became rubbish as well, Zahid?

I just wonder how those delegates remained so quiet if they had any compunction of conscience.

Coward: The definition of a backdoor government is a government that did not win the election at the time the election is called and the way they came to power did not follow democratic principles.

Umno, as long as you are part of it, you are part of the backdoor government.

As for the actual party who started the ball rolling, while it is interesting, it does not absolve other participants in the government from their responsibilities and guilt in the backdoor government.

To argue that Umno is absolved of all responsibility is typical of Malaysian politics – it is deliberately and illogically twisting the meaning of the word to excuse oneself.

Salvage Malaysia: No need to play with words. Umno was an accomplice with Bersatu in the Sheraton Move. And that means you were part of the backdoor government.

Had Umno said no, the Sheraton Move would not have happened. And after former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN)-led government fell, Umno took over with PN now as its accomplice.

As long as you take over the federal government without being elected via a general election, that’s backdoor government.

Undecided: Umno agreed to be part of the PN government following the Sheraton Move. Umno MPs and leaders are in the PN cabinet now. If it’s not apparent enough, the prime minister is also from Umno.

Only Umno members who cannot think straight will believe your deception that Umno is not part of the backdoor government.

Falcon: Strange how our politicians are all suffering from political dementia. They forgot they aided and abetted the 'backdoor government' because they thought their criminal charges would be dropped.

WTF: It takes two hands to clap. If Umno had rejected the Sheraton Move, how could the backdoor government be formed?

Rafizi: Unfair to say I withdrew, I was facing 14 cases and 5 years’ jail

Kim Quek: I recall that immediately after then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced his first round of cabinet appointments – Lim Guan Eng for finance minister, Mohamad Sabu for defence minister and Muhyiddin for home minister – PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli accused Mahathir of “bulldozing” his way. He was instantly slammed for causing disunity within the coalition.

But I saw it as Mahathir’s evil plan to cause interparty friction in Pakatan Harapan and when he later appointed then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as economic minister despite the latter was already sworn in as Selangor menteri besar, it became clear that he was aiming his gun at PKR president Anwar Ibrahim while pulling DAP and Amanah to his side through his cabinet appointments.

It was as clear as daylight to me that Mahathir’s subsequent rule in Harapan was nothing but a series of betrayal for which I had written to expose and warn the complacent and compliant Harapan leadership in the cabinet.

I often lamented then that if only we had a Rafizi to stand up to Mahathir in the cabinet, the Harapan government would not have slipped so badly.

Rafizi’s political ideology is ideally suited for this country, and with his outstanding talent, he should be able to play a major role in bringing much-needed reforms to the country.

My advice to Rafizi is to temper his politics with pragmatism and to keep an open mind as Malaysian politics have entered a new phase of unprecedented intrigues and conflicts that may give rise to various possibilities, for which Harapan may take its advantage.

In his re-entry to PKR and Harapan, he must also be tactful to avoid unnecessary friction, as it is with harmony and unity that we stand the best chance of beating our political adversaries to usher in a new era of reforms.

The Wakandan: My stand on this is that I don’t agree with Rafizi's withdrawal from politics after he lost the election to Azmin. What he did was wrong. PKR needed him. Worse, it looked like he was piqued by the loss.

Now he said that he was unsure whether he had a place in Mahathir’s government. Goodness, that was even worse. What ego. Does it matter whether Mahathir preferred Azmin over him or not?

He had his reason, of course. What’s important now is to get this behind and to move on. Probably, he needs to convince those who have misgiving about his quitting but the fact that he comes back is always welcome news to PKR and Harapan.

Coward: Rafizi, well done in defending your absence in politics. While some, particularly contenders for the same post, will not agree with your reasoning, you had set out that you took a reasonable course of action given the circumstances.

They will attack your interpretation of the circumstances but PKR voters, being more attuned to politics than say Umno's or PAS', should be able to understand your position and make their decision accordingly.

So far, I have you say you are just full of ideas and I don't see you proposing any concrete proposals on how you are going to turn those ideas into reality. However, that's good enough for me for now.

The ball is in the court of your opponents to challenge you to come up with concrete proposals before the party election, should they choose to do so.

I don't think they will, because they are not as good as you in analysing the situation. To challenge you on that will show out their shortcoming.

GrayHorse3021: Rafizi, you have my respect, admiration and support. Fence-sitters take heed, five or six years down the line, there's going to be hopeless Malaysia if we do not reform.

We need leaders like you who can see far ahead, are selfless, brave and honest.

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