Tun M insist he could not accept the UMNO party in the unity government

Interim Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has cited the intention of some parties to make UMNO a part of the coalition government, as one of the reasons he has resigned as Prime Minister.

In a special message released today, the Langkawi MP said, that was something he could not accept.

“I am willing to accept UMNO members who have left UMNO to join other parties. However, UMNO would join this unity government as the UMNO party. This, I cannot accept. Thus, I was forced to resign,” he added.

During this reveal, Dr. Mahathir said, he had asked all parties to give him time to continue ruling the country. However, his own party, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), decided to leave Pakatan Harapan, including members from other component parties.

“With that the Pakatan Harapan government will fall. Consequently, if BERSATU were to support UMNO and PAS, the parties which have lost will then form a government. This government will be dominated by UMNO as the largest party,” he added.

Dr. Mahathir said, he has also decided to resign before this as he felt he had the support of all parties, until he was unable to choose any party.

“Besides that, there are also allegations that I have no intention of resigning and that I am power-hungry.

"I resigned because I did not see power and position as “be all and end all” to my goal. To me, power and position is "a means to an end" or a tool to achieve the objective. And our objective is always for the good of the country,” he added.