DAP man sees ‘civil war’ in Umno, with pro and anti-Muhyiddin forces fighting for control

 

Liew Chin Tong said if the pro-Muhyiddin group takes control, Umno will end up as PPBM’s loyal servant.

PETALING JAYA: DAP leader Liew Chin Tong says Umno is headed for a “civil war” that could see the party breaking up internally as a result of its decision not to cooperate with PPBM in the 15th general election (GE15).

The party’s political education director said Umno will see two factions fighting to take control of the party, with those backing Muhyiddin Yassin seeking to oust the group opposing the prime minister.

In a blog post, Liew said that if pro-Muhyiddin leaders like Hishammuddin Hussein and Annuar Musa prevail, Umno will end up a “loyal servant’” to the PPBM president.

He added that it will also witness an exodus by the anti-Muhyiddin faction.

“But the likeliest situation would be those against Muhyiddin prevailing,” he said, adding that the likes of former prime minister Najib Razak and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi belonged to this faction.

Liew said the challenge for the anti-PPBM faction will be to decide on the face to lead Umno into GE15 when it campaigns as an opposition party “without the aid of government machinery and less cash compared to its time in power”.

The former deputy defence minister went on to say that PAS, an ally of Umno and PPBM in Muafakat Nasional, would have to choose between the two.

He said that as long as the president of the Islamist party, Abdul Hadi Awang, is still around, the majority of PAS leaders will stick with Muhyiddin.

“There will be some in PAS who will continue to press for collaboration with Umno but it may be futile.”

Liew warned that if the anger of the Malay swing voters was now against Muhyiddin, PAS would be tying its fate to a “sinking ship”.

“There will be many confused PAS members and supporters, some of whom would jump off the sinking ship to find some sanity.”

Liew said Umno’s decision did not bode well for the Perikatan Nasional government as it has now found itself in the danger zone, similar to the situation faced by the administration of Najib Razak in the last quarter of 2017.

Nothing it does will gain traction any more, he said, adding that the swing voters would decide to get rid of the PN government, with the only question remaining as to how it was going to be done.

“What would PPBM do? The ruling party has power and money.

“It has no love from the voters,” he said, adding that the party would use all means available to remain in power, including “buying” elected reps and prolonging the emergency.

Following a Supreme Council meeting last month, Umno declared that it would not cooperate with PPBM in GE15. However, the party said it would continue to work with the PN-led government until Parliament was dissolved. - FMT