KUALA LUMPUR – Former Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was not sure why he was labelled a traitor for signing a statutory declaration supporting rival party chief Muhyiddin Yassin’s bid to become prime minister after last year’s general election.

He said that he and nine other MPs had reverted to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) decision of remaining neutral after no party or coalition was able to secure a simple majority in Parliament.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin echoed the sentiments of fellow lawmaker, Jelebu MP Jalaluddin Alias, who said that they signed the declaration in accordance with BN’s narrative at the time.

“However, when the party decided to remain neutral, all of us revoked our support. And when the King decreed the formation of the unity government, we agreed to it. How was that treacherous?” he told reporters on Friday.

Mr Hishammuddin was one of the 10 MPs called out by Umno president Zahid Hamidi during a closed-door party briefing on Wednesday for signing statutory declarations backing Tan Sri Muhyiddin to become prime minister after the Nov 24 General Election.

Six of the 10 lawmakers are from Umno.

Amid calls for action to be taken against “traitors” within the former ruling party, Zahid said he had “forgiven” the 10 MPs and that the incident was something from the past.

The individuals, he added, are now firmly backing the current government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that Umno-led BN is a part of.

In a hung Parliament following Malaysia’s 15th General Election, 10 BN MPs backed Mr Muhyiddin to become premier despite Zahid claiming that he had his coalition MPs’ mandate to decide who to ally with.

Mr Hishammuddin on Friday also thanked Zahid for forgiving the 10 lawmakers and said he would leave it to the party to decide if it wants to take action against them.

“If they (the party) want to take action, go for it. I don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

Mr Hishammuddin reminded party members not to use the general assembly as a platform to attack one another as the public was tired of Umno’s infighting.

“The general assembly should be the platform to discuss our efforts in reducing the trust deficit of the public towards the party and to prepare for state elections. This is better than attacking each other in the party,” he said. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK