A new twist: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) secretary-general Marzuki Yahya has dismissed party leader Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya of his party post on May 29 -- for expelling Mahathir Mohamad and four others.

Suhaimi allegedly breached party rules by sending out membership termination letters to the five MPs.

Marzuki informed Suhaimi that he is now sacked from his party position as organising secretary with immediate effect.

The termination over the “breach of work ethics” and breach of the party constitution was revealed in a brief letter on Friday,

Bypassed sec-gen

The breach was the result of Suhaimi bypassing Marzuki as the party secretary-general in issuing the letters to Mahathir and the four others.

Suhaimi was said to have “made decisions regarding the administration of the party and had issued letters to sack members without my knowledge", referring to Marzuki's authority.

Marzuki went on to cite PPBM’s party constitution that states that all matters regarding party membership falls under the secretary-general’s jurisdiction.

The constitution also said that administration of party headquarters and matters on the management of party membership and registration of members are part of the secretary-general’s duties.

Background

On May 28, Bersatu’s Suhaimi released five individual letters addressed to Mahathir; his son, MP Mukhriz Mahathir, who is party deputy president and Jerlun; Muar MP and party youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman; Kubang Pasu MP Amiruddin Hamzah, and Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik.

The letters said their membership had ceased with immediate effect.

The firing was due to their decision to sit in the federal opposition bloc during the May 18 Dewan Rakyat proceedings.

As PPBM is part of the ruling coalition, they should have instead been sitting in the government bloc with MPs supporting the Perikatan Nasional administration led by prime minister and PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin.

Bersatu cited two portions of the party constitution to justify sacking of the five MPs,

The two provisions stated that the party member’s membership will cease immediately if they declare that they quit the party, or if they join or become a member of any other political parties in the country.

Top photo via