Spotlight trained on ‘Abah’

The Umno president wants to work with Pakatan Harapan but his deputy president is believed to have received an offer that may be hard to refuse.

THIS is an incredible time for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as he positions himself to become the next prime minister again.

His political fortunes have changed overnight and he has gone from what many considered a “hasbeen” to the man of the moment.

Chants of “Abah! Abah!” filled the hall when he went on stage to acknowledge Perikatan Nasional’s triumph in the General Election.

Perikatan won 73 parliamentary seats and is looking for partners to form the next government.

Muhyiddin understands the power of optics and the photograph of him with Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg and PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang in his Bukit Damansara home spoke volumes.

It sent the signal that Gabungan Parti Sarawak has begun talking to him.

A highly reliable source told The Star that Muhyiddin has also secretly approached Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

It is learnt that Muhyiddin, who respects the Rembau MP, has offered him the deputy prime minister post if Umno comes on board with him.

It is a deliciously tempting offer but everything is still up in the air at this point.

The race to win the 15th General Election has now morphed into a race to form the government.

It is no secret that Perikatan is keen to work with Barisan Nasional but without the kleptocrats.

The stumbling block is Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who prefers Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Harapan.

Ahmad Zahid has pushed this with all his might so much so that his vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob lost his temper and walked out of a meeting of the Umno Top Five held hours after the devastating election results.

“Ismail is at home, he has not been taking any calls.

“I believe he does not want to have anything to do with a plan that involves Anwar,” said his good friend Datuk Seri Faizal Abdullah.

Ismail Sabri was also a no-show at the Umno political bureau meeting yesterday afternoon when Ahmad Zahid again argued in favour of teaming up with Pakatan.

He dangled the prospect of Umno and Pakatan forming the government in Perak and Pahang.

But everyone knew it was because he sees Muhyiddin as an enemy and Anwar as a friend.

Most of those present kept silent and only Johor chairman Datuk Seri Hasni Mohamed and Tan Sri Noh Omar, who has resigned as Selangor chairman, opposed the idea.

The two men stressed that the party rank-and-file preferred Perikatan.

They also argued that Perikatan would be a more compatible match for Umno’s Malay-centric agenda.

It is unlikely that any of the aspiring coalitions will be able to reach the magic number needed to form the government anytime soon.

The question that needs to be asked is whether Ahmad Zahid has the moral authority to negotiate on behalf of the party after the sinking defeat.

He scraped through in Bagan Datuk after a recount on Saturday night.

The calls for him to resign will grow louder and there has been a lot of anger in Umno chatgroups with many laying the blame squarely on him.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak had stepped down as Umno president days after his government fell in 2018 and the opinion is that Ahmad Zahid should do the same.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz was the first to call out that “Zahid must go”.

Umno Youth vice-chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan, who quit as Umno information chief, has also asked Ahmad Zahid to take responsibility and step down.

“The buck has to stop there, Zahid presided over our party’s worst performance. It’s time to do the right thing and the decision on what’s next for Umno has to be made by someone else,” said Shahril.

Shahril’s own personal stand is that Umno should stay out of the government and take time to rebuild and reform.

“There were no clear winners in the election, but we are the clear loser,” he said.

Supreme council member Isham Jalil, who took over as information chief, said Umno should serve as the Opposition and play a checkand-balance role.

Basically, the opinion among Umno’s younger generation is that voters, especially the Malays, have rejected Umno.

For the party to now wriggle its way back into the government would be disrespecting the wishes of the people.

But more senior and influential voices in the party are needed to press Ahmad Zahid towards this difficult decision.

Umno is not going to regain support as a backdoor partner in the next government.