Muhyiddin, a politician evolving, transforming into a tough nut to crack for 1MDB PM Najib’s Umno-led BN

Muhyiddin, a politician evolving, transforming into a tough nut to crack for 1MDB PM Najib’s Umno-led BN

Former Umno deputy president and deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin is proving to be a tough nut to crack for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN).

Once touted as a colourless and meek politician when he was the country’s No.2, the Muhyiddin of today is a completely transformed national leader.

He is diligently making his rounds in the rural Malay heartlands i.e. the Umno strongholds delivering political ceramah (speeches) without mincing his words.

And that is frightening Umno as he is one Malay politician who knows too much about Umno and BN.

And he is also targeting his Johor Malay audience, a state touted as Umno’s bastion state as it was where Umno was born and founded.

However, he is still that quiet worker, swiftly making his rounds everywhere, especially busy with trying to unite all the Opposition parties to square off with the Umno-led BN in the next general election (GE) or a snap GE14.

His efforts have been made that much easier by long-time de facto Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who is languishing in Sungai Buloh Prison.

Anwar has already sent out clear signals that all Opposition parties must unite to have a real chance of toppling Najib and BN in GE14.

Muhyiddin, now the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi) president, is also widely seen as one of the top Umno politicians who is “friendly” with Anwar and his family, as testified by Anwar’s wife, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

That makes it that much more easier and natural for Muhyiddin to declare that should a united Opposition win the mandate to administer Putrajaya after GE14, then the government can start work on freeing Anwar from prison.
Whether Muhyiddin and Pribumi chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad can be trusted to keep their word on that is another matter which time will tell.

But, for now, Muhyiddin seems to be as smooth a politician that one can be, saying all the right words without mincing his words at ceramah and doing away with all the gutter politics and petty political issues, like Umno’s favourite subject: “Sex”.

He also appears to have shed his “I Am Malay First, Malaysian Second” image with his consistent statements about uniting as Malaysians to save Malaysia.

Who would have thought of the day that Muhyiddin would be defending the DAP against PAS!

Read these details extracted from an interview with Singapore’s Straits Times:

"MUHYIDDIN TELLS ‘SENSITIVE’ PAS THE BRUTAL TRUTH: DON’T SELL YOURSELF TOO HIGH, ACCEPT YOU WON DUE ALSO TO DAP’S HELP

Politics | October 8, 2016 by | 0 Comments


KUALA LUMPUR – Islamist party PAS was able to spread its influence beyond traditional strongholds due to its previous partnership with DAP, asserted Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The former deputy prime minister, who is trying to sue for peace between the two warring parties, said it was imperative for both PAS and DAP to be part of any opposition coalition that intends to take on Barisan Nasional (BN).

“What has happened with PAS before is they won not because of the Malay vote entirely, they won because they collaborated with DAP before.

“The issue, of course, is how do you engage with them, vis-a-vis not just the problems intra-PAS but between PAS and the other parties as well, in particular Amanah and DAP,” he said in an interview with the Straits Times (ST).

Muhyiddin, who was sacked as Umno deputy president earlier this year, is the president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, the splinter party that is seeking to unite the country’s fractured opposition.

In the interview with the ST, Muhyiddin stressed that any effort without PAS would result in the opposition parties fighting amongst themselves rather than against BN.

Muhyiddin, whom PPBM chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad previously declared unilaterally to be the Opposition’s pick for prime minister, has said that he was up to the task of bringing PAS and DAP together, though subsequent remarks by leaders of both parties suggest this was easier said than done.

But the former Umno president, who continues to be dogged by his Malay Ultra persona, believes he commands enough clout with PAS to ensure that the Opposition will be united against BN by the next general election.

“The bigger picture is the need for us to work together to have enough seats to form the next government,” he was quoted as saying.

Relations between PAS and DAP have deteriorated to the extent that few expect the two can co-exist under the same umbrella.

Their diametrically opposed ideologies — one is secular while the other is Islamist — have resulted in differences that were hardened by hostile exchanges over, amongst others, PAS’s bid to introduce hudud or the Islamic penal code in Kelantan.

This clash led to the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, the pact that denied BN the popular vote victory in Election 2013, a development that allowed the ruling coalition to escape mostly unscathed despite being mired in arguably the most publicised controversies in its history.

PAS has expressed its willingness to cooperate with other opposition parties, with the caveat that any suitor must not have ties with DAP.
– Malay Mail”