Former PM Mahathir launches social blackout as sign of protest

Former Malaysia prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (pictured) has launched a "blackout" initiative on social media, to protest against the current prime minister and president of the Bersatu party Muhyiddin Yassin. Mahathir was seen to change his Facebook profile picture to a black and white version of the Bersatu logo, as compared to its original red and white colour.

A quick check by A+M showed that Mukhriz Mahathir and Amiruddin Hamzah also joined in the protest by changing their Facebook profile picture to a black and white Bersatu logo. The change in logos received over thousands of reactions and PM Mahathir's post alone garnered 21,000 reactions, 3,600 comments, and 397 shares at the time of writing.

This comes after Mahathir and four other board members of Bersatu had their membership terminated. Mahathir, Mukhriz Mahathir, Amiruddin Hamzah, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and Maszlee Malik were terminated from Bersatu in end May, according to Malay Mail. It is added that it is because they chose to sit on the opposition bench during a parliament meeting. At the time of writing, Saddiq and Maszlee had not yet changed their profile picture.

In response to the board members' termination, Malay Mail cited Muhyiddin who said he is "disappointed" with Mahathir's choice to not be with Bersatu on its path, adding that he wishes the board members well. Malay Mail also cited a joint statement by the five affected board members earlier this month, which saw them insisting their reason of termination is against the party constitution. It is added that they were denied the chance to defend themselves and provide an explanation to the party. The joint statement also said the five board members did not declare that they are leaving Bersatu or the intention to join another political party.

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