‘Plot’ against Muhyiddin backfires bigtime

SOME thought it reflected his sincerity, others said Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin appeared rather desperate to prove that he is the “president’s man”.

It had to do with the way Hamzah declared himself as the “number one supporter” of his president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and how he flung his arms around the elder man as the Bersatu general assembly drew to a close.

Muhyiddin is not a touchy-feely type of man. In fact, he is known for his formal demeanour and he seemed a little taken aback as his arms hovered over the back of the other man as though unsure how to reciprocate.

The Bersatu general assembly had taken a dramatic turn after a group of delegates reacted aggressively to Muhyiddin’s claim of a campaign to topple him. 

The fracas that ensued saw some delegates yelling for the man they call “abah” to resign while others called out support for him.

It was so embarrassing for Muhyiddin who was making his presidential address on stage but he did not let it disrupt his speech and later claimed he could not tell what was happening down there. However, he was said to have privately described the incident as “very shameful”.

The commotion has, unfortunately, come to define the party gathering and although shocking, it was a situation waiting to happen. 

The power struggle in Bersatu which had been whispered about for more than a year was now out in the open. 

At the heart of it all is the race to be the prime minister candidate in the next general election. 

Many in the party were aware that a Bersatu MP from Penang had been approaching division chiefs months earlier to get their support to press for a political transition from Muhyiddin to Hamzah. 

The plan had become the worst-kept secret in the party by the time delegates gathered in Shah Alam for their general assembly. 

Some said there were statutory declarations, others said it involved letters supporting the leadership transition. 

Depending on who one spoke to, those who supported the move varied from 92 to 130 division chiefs. For many of these division chiefs, it was about backing the man who could pick them as candidates in the general election.

The Penang MP spearheading the transition move claimed he was acting on his own initiative but it is doubtful any division chief would have signed on if they did not think that it was sanctioned by someone higher up.

In hindsight, it was a rather amateurish move against a man who has spent 50 years of his life in politics, who had been prime minister and who had dared to rebel against Datuk Seri Najib Razak when the latter was at the height of his power. 

The Penang MP told people the group wanted Hamzah, 68, to take the steering wheel while Muhyiddin, 78, plays an advisory role.

It is unclear how the pro-transition group planned to execute the plan but it is possible that they thought that Muhyiddin would cave in and announce the transition at the general assembly.

But two weeks before the assembly, a Melaka leader claimed to have seen a poison pen letter exposing the plot and pin-pointing Hamzah as the enemy within.

It must have unnerved those behind the plot and that was probably when things unravelled.

Everyone knows that Hamzah and secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali have not been on the same page for some time. 

But after what happened, it appears that Azmin and Muhyiddin are what one Bersatu supreme council member called “a unit,” that is they are together. 

Body language says so much more than words in politics and when Muhyiddin arrived for the party assembly on Saturday, it was Azmin who escorted him up the escalator whereas Hamzah was left to escort Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman.

Azmin has been steadfast to Muhyiddin and he has stressed time and time again that the party general assembly in 2024 gave Muhyiddin the mandate to lead the party into the next general election.

Azmin, who is Selangor Opposition Leader, has told people around him it does not make sense for anyone to force a mid-term transition. That would be disrespecting the decision that delegates made at the 2024 general assembly.

However, Hamzah is not without support from the division chiefs because among those involved in the fracas calling for Muhyiddin to step down were three division chiefs - one from Perak and another two from Negri Sembilan and Johor.

Hamzah also has support from the top leaders in PAS. He has a polished and easy-going charm and has used his position as Opposition Leader in Parliament to win over MPs from PAS.

“People were talking about a poison pen letter but I have not seen it. What happened has to be seen in the context of the next general election. Our Malay support has not wavered and people in the party can feel the momentum, hence, the urgency to take sides.

“If you listen to our president’s winding-up speech, this train is moving ahead. We won’t let a hiccup derail the momentum,” said Datuk Harrison Hassan who is Jeram assemblyman and Kuala Selangor division chief.

Muhyiddin had been rather deflated after the 2022 general election when he was charged under the money-laundering law and his son-in-law fled the country and is still a fugitive.

However, his spirits have revived, he has survived his cancer scare, he has slimmed down and he looks fit.

“He has been active in going down to meet division leaders and he is determined to lead us into the next general election,” said Harrison.

It was ironic how a move to unseat Muhyiddin instead resulted in a ringing endorsement for him not only to continue to lead the party but to be the poster boy or prime minister candidate.

Hamzah was only inches from the top and he might have eventually been the poster boy had it not been for this plot that backfired in spectacular fashion.

Azmin put it beautifully in his winding-up when he said there cannot be two tigers on a mountain, referring to Muhyiddin and Hamzah on the Bersatu pinnacle.

Will the younger tiger be able to control his hunger pangs and keep his pledge of “I am your man” to the older tiger?

 

> The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own