A frenetic day, but nothing changed
Heated discussions and audience with King bring no end to the impasse
KUALA LUMPUR: With the government and the prime ministership still in limbo, it was a frenetic day as all sides scrambled to make sense of the outcome of the 15th General Election.
The buzz began as early as 10am at Umno headquarters in Menara Datuk Onn as Barisan Nasional supreme council members and 30 MPS started coming in for a decisive meeting.
Among the earliest to arrive were MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and Sabah Barisan Nasional chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
To add to the confusion, several PKR grassroot supporters gathered outside the building while there was talk that Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had arrived at the Seri Pacific Hotel nearby.
A group of men dressed in black, claiming to be Pahang-based supporters of Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, also showed up.
They were barred from entering Menara Dato Onn by security personnel.
Upstairs, the meeting was said to have been a heated one to decide whether the coalition should align itself with Pakatan or the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin-led Perikatan Nasional.
Pakatan had won 82 seats while Perikatan took 73 seats and both required support from Barisan, which was seen as the “kingmaker” with its 30 seats.
At the end of the almost two-hour meeting, the coalition chose a safer option – it would support neither and would instead stay in the Opposition where it can have a cooling off period and work on building back its fortunes.
Several Barisan leaders, who were stopped by the media as they left the two-hour meeting, did not give a clear answer about the outcome of their meeting.
Supreme council Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias, the Jelebu MP, said the coalition was not inclined towards either Pakatan or Perikatan.
“All 30 Barisan MPS are on the same page and intact, standing firm in our solidarity,” he said.
Bung Moktar said the Barisan MPS agreed not to propose any name as the majority leader.
“There is no name ... we did not propose any name. We did not take any side,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid was not seen after the meeting.
By the time the meeting was done, the 2pm deadline set by the King to name a prime minister was close.
The attention then turned to the two leaders in the tussle for the top job.
At Muhyiddin’s house in Bukit Damansara, Perikatan leaders and supporters had begun arriving as early as 9.50am.
Among them were Perikatan deputy chairman and PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu and its secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
Bersatu supreme council member Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof gave the thumbs up as he was leaving. He told reporters that no MPS had retracted their support for Muhyiddin.
On Monday, Hamzah said the coalition had submitted more than 112 statutory declarations from MPS to Istana Negara.
Yesterday, Hamzah said they had secured one more statutory declaration before the 2pm deadline.
Meanwhile, media personnel who arrived early yesterday to stake out Anwar’s home in Kuala Lumpur were barred from entering the premises by security guards.
Anwar was spotted leaving just after 1pm, saying he was going to his office, although the talk was that he was on his way to Seri Pacific Hotel.
But he was indeed spotted entering his office in Jalan Gasing where leaders like Negri Sembilan deputy speaker Datuk M. Ravi, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli started gathering.
After the end of the 2pm deadline, the Palace summoned Anwar and Muhyiddin for an audience at 4.30pm.
Anwar left his office as the crowd in Jalan Gasing began swelling with media personnel and party supporters.
Supporters were chanting “reformasi” as Anwar was driven off to Istana Negara in a black BMW.
Both leaders were then seen entering the Palace, Muhyiddin in a black MPV and Anwar in the BMW.
A large group of Pakatan supporters were also outside the Istana.
After about an hour or so, Muhyiddin left without speaking to the media, and the heavily-tinted windows of his MPV wound up.
Anwar came out a little later. He, however, spoke to the media, clarifying that there was no decision on the post after fake news had swirled that he had been named as “interim prime minister”.
He also said there was no question of him leading a “minority government”.
Anwar returned to his office close to 6.15pm and several top leaders such as DAP’S Loke were spotted here.
In Bukit Damansara, Muhyiddin came out to face the media after arriving home.
He said there would be no cooperation with Pakatan although the King had asked for a “unity government”.
With neither side budging, it’s now back in the King’s hands and the 30 MPS who showed up for the meeting yesterday morning will have to show up again this morning – this time for an audience with the Yang di-pertuan Agong at Istana Negara at 10.30am.
And the day that began with a meeting of the Barisan MPS ended almost exactly as it started.
Until late last night, the MPS were meeting in Menara Datuk Onn as preparations for their audience this morning.