PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - As the infighting within Malaysia's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) continues, a leaked audio recording allegedly of the party's final supreme council meeting before it quit the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has made its rounds on social media.

In the one-minute audio recording, a voice that sounds like that of party president Muhyiddin Yassin can be heard saying that chairman Mahathir Mohamad was entrusted with the mandate to pull Bersatu out of PH.

"We hope Dr Mahathir will conduct a Cabinet reshuffle before Parliament reconvenes... settle everything within this week. Maybe we can also wait until Dr Mahathir meets with party leaders.

"Okay, we wait for one week. ... It is a bit emotional today and we are deliberating about the most important issue in history, which is out of Pakatan, but we will still be the government. Government led by Bersatu, that is important.

"So if it's appropriate, we want to end our meeting today and after that, we will give the mandate to Dr Mahathir? Agree?" the man said, to which meeting participants responded with "setuju (agree)".

The male voice is also heard saying that Tun Dr Mahathir's decision should not be disputed, given his "wisdom".

"We have never doubted the wisdom of Dr Mahathir, there must be some wisdom. He has been prime minister for so long, we have to respect him.

"So, we have to do whatever he says. If that's the case, we can end the meeting. Our decision is to respect Dr Mahathir's opinion, we understand what he means but give a bit of time," he says.

According to sources, the meeting took place on Feb 23, before another meeting at the Sheraton Hotel later that night, attended by Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs and defecting former PH Members of Parliament aligned with former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.

It is also understood that leaders present at the meeting were particularly emotional and disgruntled over a meeting on the night of Feb 21, where PH leaders had pressured Dr Mahathir to fix a transition date for PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to take over as premier and Bersatu threatened to pull out from the coalition.

This appeared to corroborate with an excerpt in the beginning of the audio recording, where the man who sounds like Tan Sri Muhyiddin is heard saying: "We want to find a reason ... and that move could be a trigger".

What is now labelled the "Sheraton Move" triggered a week-long political impasse that saw the collapse of the PH government, which was replaced by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by Mr Muhyiddin as prime minister.

Dr Mahathir recently said that he was forced to resign as premier and Bersatu chairman as the party had decided to quit PH and cooperate with BN.

His remarks were disputed by Bersatu information chief Radzi Jidin, who said that Dr Mahathir had agreed with Bersatu's decision to leave PH but decided to change his stand at the last minute.

However, Dr Mahathir's son and Bersatu deputy president, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, said his father had never agreed with Bersatu's decision to leave PH.

Bersatu is now split between the factions of Dr Mahathir and Mr Muhyiddin, with the former intending to return to PH and the latter wanting to remain in the Perikatan pact.

The May 18 Parliament sitting, the first held since PH lost federal power, is highly anticipated after a motion of no confidence against Mr Muhyiddin was submitted.

The open fire between Dr Mahathir and Mr Muhyiddin appeared to have intensified in recent days after the nonagenarian's faction openly attacked Mr Muhyiddin, resulting in Mr Mukhriz's second exit as Kedah menteri besar.