Kiandee said he was among five Bersatu MPs who persuaded Mahathir to resign, alongside Hamzah Zainudin, Muhyiddin, Azmin Ali and former Bersatu member Mustapa Mohamed.

“I told Mahathir that it was his duty to allow Muhyiddin to become prime minister if he was truly fighting for the country and the Bumiputeras,” Kiandee said.

Mahathir subsequently resigned as prime minister to pave the way for Muhyiddin to replace him, a move Kiandee described as an example of leadership grounded in political reality. “That is what was done by a leader who already knew where support stood,” Kiandee said.

His account of the events of February 2020 was made at the “Reset” gathering earlier today of about 500 Bersatu members who showed support for Hamzah Zainudin, the Bersatu deputy president who was sacked from the party on Friday together with 16 others.

“But what happened in 2020 does not mirror what happened yesterday when Muhyiddin sacked his deputy,” Kiandee said, criticising Muhyiddin over Hamzah’s sacking, despite the backing of 118 of Bersatu’s 168 division chiefs and the support of 18 Bersatu MPs.

Bersatu was formed by Mahathir and Muhyiddin in 2016 and entered an alliance with Pakatan Harapan which came to power after winning the 2018 general election. Mahathir resigned as prime minister in 2020, causing the collapse of the PH government, with Muhyiddin taking Bersatu into an alliance with PAS to form the Perikatan Nasional government with the support of Umno MPs.