The Muhyiddin factor in Harapan

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, contrary to what Umno's cyber warriors are saying, did not cast a lonely shadow at the recent Pakatan Harapan convention.

If anything, he was a stellar figure, who exuded the calm that was essential to all the coalition partners. His speech was spot on and inspiring. He called a spade a spade which will only further fortify the coalition against external threats or internal mischiefs.

Within Bersatu, the seat negotiation process, despite it being long and arduous, had transformed the party into a one-on-one kingpin against Umno.

This was exactly what Muhyiddin, in agreement with Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir and vice-president Mukhriz Mahathir, had all wanted too: a direct assault against 52 parliamentary seats predominantly held by Umno.

At 52 seats, viz the 51 of PKR, Bersatu is now tasked with taking at least half of the Malay votes in the heartland of the peninsular. This is in addition to reigning in the Malay voters in the semi-urban and urban areas, especially in the likely scenario of three-corner fights.

Muhyiddin had always argued, quite convincingly, for the importance of "berani kerana benar" - to be bold because of truth and honesty.

The latter are two features that Umno has collapsed into sheer chauvinism, where the supreme council of Umno has not merely become dishonest but also rude and arrogant, devoid of ground realities, almost living in a parallel universe where everything is fine and dandy.

When the culture of Umno is endemic with spoils, invariably, largess backed by the state - where the lines of demarcation that separate the constitutional limits of government had long been blurred - surely the luminaries of Umno will wonder what did Muhyiddin get at the Harapan convention?

After all, the positions of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were ceded to Mahathir and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail at the convention on Sunday.

But then Muhyiddin, coming from a religious family, whose late father was an Islamic scholar, has never been taught to crave power for power's sake. He always speaks about the immense responsibilities that come with leadership and power, so much so that he kept repeating what happened post-Prophet Muhammad SAAS's death when his companions gathered to appoint the first caliph. The companions of the Prophet Muhammad SAAS then was nominating everyone else except themselves until Caliph Abu Bakar RA, was chosen as the caliph and we all know the legendary speech that he gave upon his acceptance that can be a dissertation in itself for a study on Islam and democracy.

It was the combination of such an upbringing and his core beliefs that inspired Muhyiddin to challenge the larceny of Umno, especially Prime Minister Najib Razak, over the losses incurred by 1MDB.

Events have since proven Muhyiddin to be right, time and again. With corruption scandals popping up non-stop in Mara and Felda, and even the quotation of East Coast Railway Highway being padded with lard, with Najib claiming that the entire project costs RM55 billion, while the CEO of Chinese Railway Engineering Construction contradicted him by affirming that the project is RM46 billion. Surely, the extra RM9 billion quoted by Najib is meant to fuel and oil the gravy train of Umno further, a political party that has degenerated into sheer piracy and hijacking of the state.

Within Umno, it was Muhyiddin who first broke with the ranks, by raising this issue of grand corruption, malfeasance and abuse of power that has rankled and wrecked by the non-stop scandals, where even the Attorney General can be silenced into sheer compliance.

Without that first move, Bersatu and Warisan in Sabah under Shafie Apdal (photo), would not have come to be. In Sabah, especially the areas surrounding Tawau, 99 percent of the people, regardless of ethnicity and background, are backing Warisan.

Muhyiddin made the coalitional politics of Harapan all that more tenable and possible precisely because he wanted to "Save Malaysia" by stepping away from issues that would divide Malaysia.

He quietly built Bersatu’s infrastructure that includes the party divisions, offices and took in some very capable and out-of-the-box thinking individuals to helm the party.

In calling for the naming of a PM candidate, he was not asking for the position for himself, but to allow Dr Mahathir and Dr Wan Azizah to be decisively put forward as the future faces of Malaysian hopes.

In the general elections of 2008 and 2013, many seats were negotiated at the last minute, creating room for Barisan Nasional and Umno, in particular, to claim that the "opposition was fractious and divided."

Muhyiddin knew that with a united front between Amanah, DAP, PKR and Bersatu, that lame excuse that the opposition is weak and a motley collection of self-serving individuals, have been totally removed.

Naturally to "Save Malaysia," Muhyiddin would have to contest in one of the 52 seats assigned to Bersatu. And, he will. But, he is not asking for anything in return, other than Malaysia be saved, and spared, the ignominy of being seen as the worst kleptocracy in the world under Najib's awful watch.

Rahman Dahlan, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, who hails from Kota Belud Sabah, tweeted that it is "tragic that the opposition coalition would be led by Dr Mahathir and Dr Wan Azizah."

By his account, these are two has-beens in Malaysian politics. But Rahman Dahlan (photo) may well end up as the tragic-comical figure. One who came all the way from Sabah to defend the indefensible in Najib, when the alleged corruption is stacked sky-high like the Signature Tower, which is not even owned by Malaysia but financed by external powers like China and owned by an Indonesian.

Muhyiddin knew that if corruption continued to breach the low walls of Umno, the whole country would be inundated with "funny money". As the Malay saying goes: "Sekali bah, sekali air berubah" (With every deluge, comes every change).

Bersatu is the fault line to trigger the Malay and Malaysian tsunami that this country has been waiting for since 1999, if not 2008. Enough is indeed enough. When Najib and his cabinet can luxuriate in total comfort, while the people in the streets struggle with the cost of living aggravated by their wasteful ways, then the likes of Muhyiddin, as he himself puts it, "has to catch the bull by the horns."

And he did all that quietly while anchored to the main aim of saving Malaysia without much pomp and grandeur. Neither did he try to do any political manoeuvring to place himself amongst the PM candidates. He was so single-minded in the task of saving Malaysia. Period. Truly, Malaysia still has hope with such personalities breathing the same air that we are breathing in this resourceful Malaysia.

God save Malaysia.

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RAIS HUSSIN is a Bersatu supreme council member and also heads its policy and strategy bureau.- Mkini