Disunity in the Party Named Unity

Ahead of the coming Sabah state election, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has made a promise of returning a 40% revenue return to Sabah if his Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional coalition are back in power. However, Sabahans cast doubt on him, knowing that he did not do anything about it when he was the Sheraton Move Prime Minister for 17 months from March 2020 until August 2021.

It seems that Muhyiddin is under a lot of pressure recently. Despite being endorsed as Prime Minister candidate by the Bersatu annual general assembly yesterday, things do not seem to be going smoothly for him.

At the party assembly in Shah Alam on Saturday night, Muhyiddin had decided to mention about certain people collecting signatures to demand him stepping down as party president. He gave them a stern warning: “Better stop stirring up trouble and avoid disunity among us”. That was the moment when some people inside the meeting hall began shouting for him to resign.

All is not well in Bersatu. It should not be surprising though because its shaky core leadership, formed from the ashes of the 2020 Sheraton Move, consists of people with no clear principles and agenda – Muhyiddin the Bersatu co-founder, Dato’ Seri Hamzah Zainudin the UMNO leader who led a group of MPs to jump ship when his party lost the 2018 general election, and Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali the PKR defector.

The Sheraton Move was essentially a political coup that destabilised the Pakatan Harapan Government via the assembling of the splinter groups from UMNO (Hamzah), PKR (Azmin), and Bersatu (with Muhyiddin’s group kicking out Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s faction). Both UMNO and PKR have now recovered from the attempt to destroy their parties, which unwittingly means the political room for Bersatu to manoeuvre would be much smaller.

My view of the current state of the Opposition has yet to change. I have argued that PN had reached its peak, with PAS remaining strong in its Malay strongholds, and Bersatu declining in its influence, and not much else to expand from there.

There are three glaring mistakes Muhyiddin made when delivering his speech at the Bersatu conference yesterday.

First, it was not a smart thing to highlight his own vulnerable position. Why bring up the issue of some party people wanting to topple him if he thought it was a “small matter”, at least that’s how he described it to journalists when asked about the protest against him inside the meeting hall. He even used the word “batu api” (agitators) to refer to those wanting him out, causing an immediate reaction among delegates.

It was so contradictory of him when, on the one hand claiming that Bersatu is strong and united, and on the other hand, admitting that there are cracks in the party as some factions want to oust him. Indeed, it was ironic for him to remind us that he was elected democratically last year for a three-year term, and any changes must be in accordance with the party constitution, when he was the architect of the Sheraton Move.

Second, while Muhyiddin is probably trying his best to show off his Bersatu “wira” (hero) stance, his gesture at his party assembly only displays his determination to stay on forever until his dream of becoming Prime Minister again is achieved. And that’s the core of the problem because Hamzah, Azmin, and most importantly, PAS realise that Muhyiddin lacks the charisma, strength, and time, and could pose a serious threat for Bersatu’s longevity and PN’s winnability.

At the same time, Hamzah and Azmin do not see eye to eye with each other. Turning to history again, the Sheraton Move happened because Muhyiddin had a problem with Dr Mahathir in Bersatu while Azmin had a problem with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in PKR. I wonder what sort of new formula or new configuration is playing on Azmin’s mind when he attempts to come on top to replace Muhyiddin while going against Hamzah, and at the same time trying to project himself as a main contender against Anwar in the larger game.

Third, it follows that the Bersatu president is reading the situation wrongly. Instead of facing the reality of his unpopularity, he decided to bulldoze his way to remain in office by any means necessary.

As I have mentioned before in my earlier writings, with the two-prong problems of PN – Bersatu’s internal splits as well as PAS trapped in its 1982 Islamist dogma – Malaysian voters will find it difficult to identify with a fractious opposition. Even when PN is harping on Malay issues, not all are convinced with them; and at the same time, they continue to alienate the non-Malay voters, as well as voters in Sabah and Sarawak.

The commotion at Bersatu’s national conference is a symptom of a larger crisis looming in the party. And an unstable Bersatu will affect the PN no matter how popular PAS is among the Malays.

However, while PN is dealing with its internal crisis, Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional with allies in Sabah and Sarawak should not rest on their laurels. Much has been done by the Anwar-led Unity Government for the people but much more needs to be done.