Gnashing teeth and munching leaves

Stories on the succession of Bersatu's leadership highlight a pertinent question: who will come out tops in a battle between two 'dinosaurs' – Muhyiddin (centre) or Hamzah (right)? — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star

IF BERSATU were to exist during the Mesozoic Era, its president, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, would be a Therizinosaurus. In contrast, its deputy president, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, would be a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or popularly known as the T-Rex.

A Therizinosaurus, which had long claws on its front feet, was a herbivore, while the T-Rex, which had long, sharp teeth, was a carnivore. The Therizinosaurus was slightly taller than the T-Rex, although it was longer and heavier than its counterpart. The T-Rex was faster (16 to 40 km/h) than the Therizinosaurus (about 16 km/h).

If there were a confrontation between a Therizinosaurus and T-Rex, the latter would win because of its size, speed and bite force over the former.

I talked with a Muhyiddin loyalist who told me that the former prime minister had taken Bersatu to a level no one had imagined. However, a T-Rex was needed to lead the party’s preparation for GE16 (the General Elections that must be held by February 2028).

The loyalist, who did not wish to be identified, explained that it was not that Muhyiddin was not a good politician, but he lacked the characteristics necessary to lead an opposition party and a coalition.

“He is a national leader. When he was in power, he was brilliant. But once in opposition, he tak jadi sangat (not so much),” he said, while we had masala tea in Kuala Lumpur.

“You can be a dinosaur coming into old age, but you need to be fast like a T-rex,” he said, referring to the 77-year-old Muhyiddin and Hamzah, who is 68.

The loyalist claimed that the general sentiment among the Bersatu leaders and MPs was that the party needed a leadership change. He recalled that the Bersatu top leadership had a retreat in February 2024 to discuss a succession plan.

“Tan Sri (Muhyiddin) agreed that there must be a proper succession plan and the Supreme Council gave him a mandate and full trust to choose who should succeed him. The agreement was that the (future) deputy president - there were two names at that time, which were considered - would replace Tan Sri as president,” he said, adding that the names were Hamzah and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

“Tan Sri said since you gave me this mandate, my reciprocal arrangement with you is to hand over the presidency within a year-and-a-half,” he said.

It has been over a year, but Muhyiddin shows no signs that he is ready to step down as president and hand over the reins to Hamzah.

In July 2024, during a Bersatu convention, Muhyiddin “leaked” the candidates’ list for the party polls in October, which he said was the result of several discussions within the party. He announced that Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu would step down as deputy president and run for one of the three vice presidents’ posts instead.

“Faizal is willing to leave his current post to give way to Hamzah in recognition of his contributions as Perikatan Nasional secretary-general and the opposition leader in Parliament,” Muhyiddin told the media.

And according to the Muhyiddin loyalist: “Tan Sri’s succession line is first Hamzah and Tan Sri appointed Azmin as secretary general, and the indication is that Azmin, after that.”

However, a faction within Bersatu is persuading its president to renege on his promise and stay until the next general election, GE16.

The loyalist said this was a big challenge for Bersatu.

“Tan Sri is the same age as (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and can’t be we are offering a PM candidate the same age as Anwar.

“Anwar is showing how energetic he is - running around and walking fast - but Tan Sri is not catching up.”

The loyalist believed that it was time to discuss the succession publicly. However, Hamzah had told him that Bersatu should wait until Muhyiddin was ready to let go.

“But the vast majority of the Bersatu leadership wants it now. They don’t want to be like Kamala Harris, who replaced (Joseph) Biden at the last minute (as the Democrat nominee for the presidential race against Donald Trump).

“You lost not because you are not a good candidate but because you made the decision late in the game.”

The loyalist continued: “I don’t want people to push out Tan Sri. You should have the freedom to go at your peak, but the peak is now. The fear is if he doesn’t go now, he will have no choice but to go as Bersatu will dwindle.

“We need a leader who can be a PM candidate, and you can’t put Azmin as he is not an MP,” he said.

Then I asked: “If Bersatu has a change in president, what do you think of the Opposition’s chance to bring down the unity government?”

The loyalist replied: “It will be stronger and more efficient because Hamzah is a better negotiator. And the rejection is not on Hamzah. The other parties that were supposed to cross - Sabah, Sarawak, a big chunk of Umno - don’t have anything against Hamzah. They are very friendly with Hamzah, but they don’t want Tan Sri to be prime minister.

“So long as the argument is only Tan Sri being Bersatu’s only prime minister candidate, there is no negotiation with other parties and politicians.”

He added: “Hamzah is okay with Fadillah (Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, deputy Prime Minister and a Gabungan Parti Sarawak MP).”

“How about Ismail Sabri?” I asked, referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, facing a RM170mil corruption and money laundering investigation.

“No problem,” he said.

The loyalist also named another Umno politician as the temporary PM before GE15. It might be a surprise as he mentioned someone high in the unity government.

“So be it. The enemy is clear: it is Pakatan Harapan.” he said.

The loyalist stressed: “I love and respect Muhyiddin. However, if I have to boil down the challenge facing Bersatu, until late last year, our primary problem was being a weak party. However, today, despite improvements in the party, our problem now is a weakening president who doesn’t want to let go despite his success in bringing the party to our peak.”

“Just say Hamzah becomes acting president, how fast can you all bring down this government?” I asked.

“The negotiations can start again because the presence of Muhyiddin today has killed it,” he said.

The loyalist said Bersatu needed someone like Hamzah, who is as fast as a T-rex.

“We need someone like him now to scare people,” he said.

Which dinosaur will win, Therizinosaurus versus Tyrannosaurus?