The former deputy prime minister said while he respected the decision made by Anina, as well as by former PPBM vice-president Hamidah Osman who also quit the year-old party on the same day, she did not have the legitimate standing to debate with him as she was no longer a member.
“Tak payah (no need). She no longer has a locus standi,” he said.
The Pakatan Harapan deputy president said although the resignations of the two prominent figures posed a challenge for the party, he was not distressed by the situation.
He added that they had the right to make such a choice and were not pressured to leave.
“They decided on their own. They were not pushed to do so and they were not fired,” he told reporters at an event in Sri Rampai here last night.
He said PPBM, which was formed in September last year, would continue with its endeavours.
He also claimed that “some people” did not understand the actual meaning of the party’s struggle.
Anina, who was one of the founding members of the party, had yesterday said she was forming an NGO and would challenge Muhyiddin and PPBM deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir to a debate on any current issue once it was registered.
She said that she was waiting for the Registrar of Societies’ (ROS) approval for the NGO which would focus on matters related to the people’s economic conditions but would not stray far from politics.
Muhyiddin also said decisions on filling the positions vacated by Hamidah, who was vice-president and the Gopeng division’s pro-tem chief, would be made after consultations with PPBM’s legal team and the supreme council.
Anina, a former Langkawi Umno member, had claimed that she was informed in a crude manner about being fired as the PPBM women’s chief in December and as supreme council member later, by simply being kicked out of the PPBM supreme council members’ WhatsApp chat group.
She added that she was also not given a formal invitation to PPBM’s first-anniversary celebration on Sept 9 and the way she was treated helped her in making the decision to quit.
Muhyiddin had then responded by saying there was no need to send any invite to the former supreme council member as the function in Muar was open to all members.
Anina also said she never received any official letter about the decision to remove her from the posts.
“In contrast, when I sued the Umno president, my membership (in Umno) was automatically terminated and even then Umno sent me an official letter,” she said.
The resignation by Hamidah, a former Perak state executive councillor from Umno, came three days after her sister Hamizura’s allegedly racist Facebook post sparked condemnation from some party leaders as well as from Pakatan Harapan partners.