Ramkarpal stressed that taking in the Umno representatives would be to betray the will of voters from the general election. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 ― Public meetings of PKR and Umno leaders are distracting attention from Pakatan Harapan’s possible absorption of nearly 40 lawmakers from the Malay nationalist party, Ramkarpal Singh asserted today.

The Bukit Gelugor MP urged both the public and the ruling coalition not to let themselves be drawn by the public meetings involving Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli and Khairy Jamaluddin, calling these “wayang” that pulled focus away from impending disaster.

“Well, let me remind you, what’s going on is dire. What’s going on is a new PH government failing,” he said in a statement today.

Ramkarpal said he was being plied with questions on rumours that PH parties were contemplating the entry of Umno lawmakers who have left or will leave the party as well as the ruling coalition’s stewardship of the country.

The Malay nationalist party has lost 17 federal lawmakers since the general election and some, such as former minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and former Puteri Umno chief Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, have since found their way into PH component PPBM.

The issue has split the ruling coalition in two, with DAP and PKR resistant to the idea, PPBM open to accepting the former Umno leaders, and Amanah saying it would consider this.

Ramkarpal stressed today that taking in the Umno representatives would be to betray the will of voters from the general election, asserting that he was recently asked by a constituent why the coalition was even thinking of taking in the defectors.

“He was absolutely right. Why? Because we are no different from Umno if we can consider accepting the very people we voted out, all of whom so far are from Umno, into PH.

“It is like saying to the Rakyat, ‘Thank you for your vote but to hell with you. I have my own plans,’” he said.

Some including PH component leaders have expressed concern that Umno lawmakers were seeking to join PH via PPBM to escape possible prosecution for corrupt practices they may have indulged in while Barisan Nasional had been in power.

Senior BN figures such as former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor, and former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, among others, have all been charged with corruption.

PPBM president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin previously gave his assurance that entry into his party would not prevent these lawmakers from being prosecuted if they were previously corrupt.

There are only 37 Umno MPs left now, down from the 54 after the May 9 polls.