PETALING JAYA: The tumultuous relationship between Bersatu and Umno has shaped much of the country’s political landscape since Bersatu’s inception in September 2016.
Bersatu, a splinter party from Umno, was set up with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its chairman.
Mahathir left Umno in February 2016 following the 1MDB scandal involving then prime minister and Umno president Najib Razak.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin became the party president, and former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir the deputy president. Both had been sacked from Umno for supposedly colluding with the opposition.
Bersatu formally joined Pakatan Harapan (PH) in November 2016, siding with DAP, PKR and Amanah. Mahathir, being its chairman, was named PH’s prime ministerial candidate for the 14th general election (GE14).
Leading up to GE14, Bersatu contested in Umno strongholds. The candidates, especially those previously from Umno, alleged corruption in the ruling Malay party during campaign speeches, throwing around what Umno leaders called “disparaging and disrespectful remarks” against them.
PH succeeded in wresting power from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno in a historic feat in May 2018, after which an exodus of Umno members and leaders ensued. Bersatu won 13 seats, but caused an even bigger rift between them and Umno in the process.
A number of Umno members – with positions in federal and state governments – officially joined Bersatu and pledged support for Mahathir, including party veterans like Mustapa Mohamed. A few months later, in December, nine of Sabah Umno’s assemblymen, five Umno MPs, and two senators also quit to join Bersatu.
Six other MPs left Umno in the same month, including former minister Hamzah Zainudin. They joined Bersatu in February 2019.
The bad blood between the two parties continued during campaigns for a slew of by-elections, where Umno-BN defeated Bersatu-PH in Cameron Highlands, Rantau, Semenyih and Tanjung Piai.
Fast-forward to 2020, Mahathir faced growing pressure from PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and his proxies, who were urging the then prime minister to set a date for Anwar to take over power – one of PH’s election pledges.
This, along with increasing questions over his majority among the MPs, finally led to Mahathir’s resignation as the prime minister and Bersatu chairman on Feb 24, 2020.
After granting audiences to all MPs and political leaders at the Palace, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appointed Bersatu president and former home minister Muhyiddin as the 8th prime minister on Feb 29, putting an end to the country’s week-long impasse.
The King was confident that Muhyiddin had the majority after being backed by all Bersatu MPs, 10 former PKR MPs who had exited the party and all MPs from Umno, PAS, MCA and MIC.
With this slim majority, Muhyiddin then formed the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition consisting of Bersatu, Umno, PAS, PBRS, GPS and STAR.
He also appointed several Umno MPs as ministers in his Cabinet, such as Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Annuar Musa.
This collapse of the PH government temporarily aligned Umno with Bersatu, with both officially stating they wanted to solidify Malay-Muslim interests in the country. In the months to come, talks of Bersatu joining Umno and PAS’ Muafakat Nasional dominated the political sphere.
On the other hand, it was widely speculated that Umno leaders with ongoing corruption court cases were hoping for an easy pass with their support for the coalition.
Soon enough, tension between the two parties bubbled again, this time over the Sabah election in September 2020. Bersatu and Sabah Umno fought over seats and the chief ministership, despite the King calling for calm and unity amid the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the country.
Muhyiddin’s GRS consisting of PN, BN, PBS and several other Sabah-based parties won the election, with PN grabbing 17 of the 38 seats and BN winning 14. The rest were won by other parties and independents.
Sabah Bersatu chief Hajiji Noor was appointed chief minister over Sabah BN chief Bung Moktar Radin. This was seen as a crucial move for Muhyiddin, who was grappling to solidify his position in the federal government after PKR’s Anwar claimed to have a formidable majority.
All this while, Umno was especially vocal against working with DAP. It was also critical of Bersatu’s attempts at dominating politics in state governments like Perak, where Umno held more seats.
This led to Perak’s former menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu losing the support of the state assembly in December 2020 after 48 members voted against him in a confidence vote.
Soon after, speculation again arose that Umno was eyeing the No. 2 post in the government, among other demands such as a Cabinet reshuffle, in exchange for the party’s continued support.
In January this year, Muhyiddin’s advice to the King to proclaim a state of emergency to manage the Covid-19 pandemic and to suspend Parliament and state assemblies, was seen as a political move to avoid a no-confidence vote. This triggered protests from top Umno leaders, including Najib.
Talk of withdrawing support for Muhyiddin continued but nothing was concrete until the Umno general assembly in March 2021. Umno then decided to push for GE15 as soon as the Emergency ended, either on or before Aug 1, failing which it would decide on a date to withdraw support for PN.
Just last week, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi issued the PN-led government an ultimatum to reopen Parliament within 14 days, stating that failure to do so would be “viewed as insolence towards the Yang di-Pertuan Agong”, who had called for Parliament to reconvene as soon as possible.
Apart from pressuring for Parliament to resume, Umno leaders like youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki have been at the forefront of pushing for an automatic bank loan moratorium and withdrawals from the Employees Provident Fund to help those struggling during the pandemic.
Umno is still the biggest bloc in the PN-led government, whose slim majority is now under scrutiny following the party officially withdrawing support for Muhyiddin as the prime minister last night.
After the four-hour Supreme Council meeting at the party’s headquarters, Zahid also called for the prime minister to step down.
He said PN had failed to fulfil the two requirements that Umno had set to justify their support – realising the aspirations of the people and addressing the economic slowdown, as well as coming up with an effective plan to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
His announcement came just hours after Muhyiddin appointed Ismail as the deputy prime minister, and Hishammuddin Hussein as a senior minister. - FMT
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