Madani 'death clock', PAS love test: Takeaways from Umno AGM

 

The 2026 Umno general assembly closed on Saturday with the party all fired up for the next general election.

Here are three key takeaways from the four-day event:

1) Death clock for Madani coalition

If it wasn't already obvious, the Umno AGM hammered home one clear message: the Madani coalition is nearing its expiry date.

However, while Pakatan Harapan would like the coalition to expire naturally when Parliament's term ends, Umno is keen to sour the relationship and speed up the Madani death clock.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi finally dropped the facade that all is well between him and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and fired multiple shots at the premier.

From drubbing Anwar's economic policies to denying that he ever considered the PKR president his "teacher", the biggest shot across the bow was Zahid (below) daring the premier to kick Umno out of the government to pave the way for a general election.

While Zahid's arithmetic was off in claiming that the government would not have a simple majority if BN was booted out - the government would still have 120 seats, eight more than the 112 simple majority needed - he is likely right that the government could collapse in such an event.

However, despite all this, the Umno president said the party would not move to depose Anwar through a motion of no confidence.

2) Umno regains confidence

Zahid and Umno's bravado is a marked shift from the party's uncertainty about its future just eight months ago during the delayed 2025 Umno AGM.

At that time, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan expressed concern that ethnonationalism would not be enough for the party to get support.

There were also signs of uncertainty over who Umno should ally with in the next polls.

However, consecutive wins in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, on the back of a "Malay unity" wave propelled by PAS, have been a major shot in the arm for the Malay rights party, which is now eager to form the next government and believes it can do a better job than Anwar.

3) Love for PAS not 'blind'

While much of Umno's confidence right now is thanks to support from PAS, their renewed love for the Islamist party is not "blind".

Delegates and party leadership alike still expressed some doubt about PAS' sincerity in cooperation.

Mohamad, for example, blatantly asked PAS to hold snap polls in one of the states it controls so that Umno can see how willing the latter is to be equal partners.

This is despite Umno refusing to cede ground to PAS and Perikatan Nasional in Malacca, where both have similar levels of support as of the last general election.

The prodding is likely aimed at testing whether PAS - whose president, Abdul Hadi Awang, has indicated eagerness to placate Umno to seal a cooperation - will be willing to give up ground in states like Kedah and Terengganu, where Umno has lost extensive territory in the last decade. - Mkini