PETALING JAYA: Bersatu vice-president Ahmad Faizal Azumu has downplayed Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s stinging response to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin who said the Perikatan Nasional chairman might not necessarily be the coalition’s prime ministerial candidate.
In a Facebook post, Samsuri had said many reporters had reached out to him for a response to Muhyiddin, who was the prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021.
He said that regardless of who becomes PN’s prime ministerial candidate, the priority now should be on bolstering the coalition and improving cooperation among component parties ahead of the next general election.
“What is certain is that Muhyiddin is no longer the prime ministerial candidate,” added Samsuri, who took over the PN chairmanship from Muhyiddin on Feb 22.
Faizal said Samsuri might have been “put on the spot” after Muhyiddin simply clarified that holding the PN chairmanship does not automatically make someone the prime ministerial candidate, as the decision is determined through meetings.
“That was what Muhyiddin meant, and Samsuri may have been asked a misleading or abrupt question,” he said in an interview on The Tiger Show podcast.
“I think we are all always learning, and Samsuri can certainly take a lesson from this.”
Muhyiddin’s statement came after PAS Youth floated the idea of Samsuri being the Islamic party’s candidate for prime minister.
Muhyiddin was unanimously nominated as Bersatu’s prime ministerial candidate at its general assembly last September.
