They said the two parties were trying to imply that the opposition had caused the current political impasse that has led to a motion of confidence that will be tabled in Parliament next month.

In a joint statement by its three MPs, namely Chan Foong Hin (Kota Kinabalu), Vivian Wong (Sandakan) and Noorita Sual (Tenom) as well as senator Adrian Lasimbang, they contended that the political crisis was actually caused by Muhyiddin and law minister Takiyuddin Hassan.

“It’s their failure to maintain the cohesiveness of PN. It’s unrelated to the opposition, which has been calling for Muhyiddin’s resignation from day one … this is not something new.

“What’s new in Malaysian politics is the enemy within the ruling coalition that is destabilising the marriage of convenience in the PN coalition.

“STAR and SAPP must acknowledge that it’s the Umno leaders who are doing all the politicking.”

Yesterday, STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan and SAPP chief Yong Teck Lee both threw their support behind Muhyiddin and dismissed the opposition’s efforts to unseat him as “mere politicking”.

In their statement today, the Sabah DAP leaders questioned why the Sabah PN parties failed to make any mention of the Umno MPs who had retracted their backing for the ruling coalition, thus causing the current problem.

The Sabah DAP leaders further questioned how Sabahans can place their hopes on these two parties to uphold their rights in Parliament and in government when they did not even have the guts to reprimand their leaders who caused this impasse.

“It is better for them to deal with the elephant in the room first, before pointing fingers at opposition parties.”