ROLL, MUHYIDDIN, ROLL

Will Muhyiddin roll with Zahid to get at Najib or is just stirring something to make Umno stink so bad before he finally says adieu?

Zakiah Koya, The Heat Malaysia

Main question: Can Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin roll with the punches?

Second question: Will he roll?

Third question: Will he roll both ways — towards former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, then roll back to show his support for the party?

I have no answers to the first two questions, but as for the third, he did roll towards Mahathir when he was first sacked as the deputy prime minister, but then, he has sort of rolled back towards Umno, showing he is still very much for the party.

Even after he was suspended, Muhyiddin has yet to start foaming with anger.

Yes, he did bring up the issue of Najib’s scandal again, but never did he say he will quit the party.

Muhyiddin may be all blue from being bruised by the Najib’s faction in Umno, but is he a true-blue Umno man, as Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid wants him to be?

Or is he being really green now with envy with Zahid — and in the midst of strategising who he can work with to topple from within?  After all, Zahid did take over his post and may just be the next PM.

All in all, one thing is for sure, as red as Umno flag is, Naiib is well cemented in his support from the grassroots, nothing so far has managed to shake that.

And the reason Zahid is asking Muhyiddin to stay true and blue may be because the former knows that if Muhyiddin leaves, he would lose the sympathy votes in Umno.

Muhyiddin definitely would not be the next PM, and Zahid needs all the votes he can to keep his popularity in the party and just in case there is a revolt, Zahid needs all the anti-Najib factions to support him.

Zahid is no Mahathir’s man, in fact, he was once a former DPM and now in the cell opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s man.

Najib, at present, does not seem to be bothered with what is happening, for he knows he will have to leave soon and he is just making sure, he is not booted out. His grassroot Umno support is still very solid, and the proof is that even after the RM2.6 billion 1MDB scandal thrown at him, he has managed to hold on in Umno, with some openly saying, he is doing all he can to get funds for Umno, and they do not care if he has “snitched some from somewhere”.

As for Zahid, he is making sure his boat will not leak when the time comes for him to take over the premiership. He knows he has a good chance, for Najib’s cousin, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, seems to have taken a backseat for now in Umno.

And Zahid, having worked with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin, may very well know the buttons he would have to push to make them play the game.

Last question: Will Muhyiddin roll with Zahid to get at Najib or is just stirring something to make Umno stink so bad before he finally says adieu?