I didn't betray your mandate, Maszlee reminds Layang Layang voters
PKR Layang Layang hopeful Dr Maszlee Malik assured that he remains committed to PH and their fight for a more democratic and fair Malaysia. - Bernama Photo.
The former education minister and Simpang Renggam MP also expressed his continued commitment to a more democratic and fair Malaysia.
"I didn't betray the vote that you gave me even though at the time I was with Bersatu under PH.
"You gave the vote to PH in the hopes to change the government and to see a more fair and developed Malaysia but sadly after 22 months and not even 5 years of our mandate, your votes were betrayed by my former party Bersatu who left PH and now have cooperated with Datuk Seri Najib Razak to form a back door government.
"I have not betrayed the votes that were given to me. I am still with PH," he said, stating he was expelled from Bersatu for being loyal to PH. He said this to over 100 people in a ceramah in Renggam last night.
In attendance was also PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Following the Sheraton Move in 2020, Maszlee along with four other Bersatu members - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Langkawi), Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun), Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muar), and Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu) - were expelled from the party for sitting along with the opposition bench during a parliamentary sitting on May 18, 2020.
Syed Saddiq has since formed Muda while Dr Mahathir and the rest of the parliamentarians have established Pejuang.
In his speech yesterday, Maszlee also stated he has managed to bring several major developments to his constituency during his short tenure as Education Minister under PH.
This includes establishing a community college, an Open University campus and even a McDonald's branch here.
However, Maszlee apologise to the voters here as he was unable to enact several other initiatives for his constituency due to the Sheraton Move.
The Sheraton Move saw the fall of the PH administration due to defection from Bersatu and several PKR lawmakers in Feb 2020. The PN administration was sworn in on March 1 of the same year.
The incident has led to an upheaval in Malaysian politics in the past two years, which was made worse as the nation dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this state election, Maszlee is contesting against BN's Datuk Ab Mutalip Abd Rahim, PN's K. Alagathiran and Pejuang's Ahmad Shafiq Othman for the state seat of Layang Layang.
