PETALING JAYA, Aug 16 (Sin Chew Daily) — The seven-point cross-party proposals for a bipartisan government disclosed by prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin were parts of the discussions raised by DAP political education director Liew Chin Tong who met Muhyiddin's principal private secretary Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad last year.

A source said there were no consensus reached then because the DAP raised many issues.

"Serious negotiations took place more than a week ago. There were a total of six discussions held where the government was represented by finance minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz while the other side was led by Tony Pua (Damansara) and Ong Kian Ming (Bangi).

"The DAP top leadership was in the know – the face-to-face talk, phone calls and discussions over the dining table," said the source.

"A senior leader from DAP met up with Tengku Zafrul recently to discuss this while dining together. Did he deny?" the source asked.

On the other hand, a DAP insider told Sin Chew Daily many DAP central executive committee members were unhappy with top leadership assigning representatives to negotiate with Tengku Zafrul. They felt the timing for negotiations was not right.

"Muhyiddin is hanging in by a thread. Even the King is giving him an ultimatum. Why do we still negotiate with him? Isn't saving him equivalent to shooting oneself in the foot?"

Muhyiddin has proven to be incompetent and unreliable in the past one year. He is doing everything to hang on to power, said the insider.

The insider said confidence and supply agreement (CSA) might still be possible to discuss with Muhyiddin as of last year. But it is no longer necessary now.

"More importantly, why can't we carry out the proposed reforms mediated during the negotiations ourselves? We can do so when we are the government. Why let him carry out the reforms? How can we trust him that he will honor his pledges? He is buying time for himself!"

The DAP insider urged the representatives to clarify on the negotiations or retract the stand taken earlier immediately as this has tarnished DAP's reputation.

DAP state executive councilor Datuk Teng Chang Khim, who is also Bandar Baru Klang state assemblyman, shared Sin Chew Daily's exclusive news on Cross-party framework for a bipartisan cooperation on his Facebook yesterday. Teng also posted a question: "Liew, Pua, Ong, is this true?"