NOT long before last year’s Umno election, Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin, made known to allies that he would not challenge Mohd Najib Abdul Razak for the post of president and gave “tiredness” as his reason.
When I asked him some time later, he repeated the same reason – penat. – Additionally he did not want to be accused of being unable to work with any Prime Ministers having been instrumental in hastening (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s resignation as PM in 2009.
The excuse that he was tired was flimsy. I would have given some credence had he said he was to challenging Mohd Najib because the latter was doing a good job or something like that. I could not remember him saying such a thing.
This latest talk that he wants out could have been members’ interpretation of his recent statements at party meetings that Umno must prepare for succession and take steps to train younger leaders.
Muhyiddin isn’t exactly old. He is 67 and is not known to have health problem. The late (Tun) Abdul Ghafar Baba became DPM at 61 and (Tun) Dr Matahir Mohamad remained PM until he was 78.
Even if Muhyiddin has differences with Mohd Najib, it should not be an excuse for him to step down. Many Unno leaders, including ministers, have issues with Mohd Najib. They should stay and fight for the party instead of forsaking it out of distaste for Mohd Najib.
PM Needs Muhyiddin
ON the other hand, Mohd Najib may shudder at the thought of not having Muhyiddin by his side in the cabinet.
This is even more so if Muhyiddin’s intention is spend time building up Umno. That could be a dangerous proposition for the Mohd Najib.
He needs Muhyiddin close to him for two reasons. First, Muhyiddin is popular with Umno members. For that reason, Mohd Najib has left much of party work to him.
Second, because of Muhyiddin’s popularity with Umno members, it’s risky for Mohd Najib to let him take charge of the party away from his scrutiny. He has to keep Muhyiddin in his sight.
That could have been the reason why Mohd Najib came out strongly to deny that Muhyiddin was leaving the Cabinet.
But we have to take such a denial with a pinch of salt. Dr Mahathir too denied strongly the allegations against Anwar Ibrahim by Umi Hufilda in 1997.
Muhyiddin’s aides acknowledged that their boss had raised the matter of his “advancing” age with Mohd Najib. According to them Mohd Najib told Muhyiddin that he needed him.
But now there is a new twist to the issue. According to aides, Muhyiddin had started to feel uneasy when speculations that he was leaving the cabinet began to spread in the press.
He felt that there might be attempts to pressure him to leave or to make Mohd Najib feels that he can no longer rely on him (Muhyiddin).
The Hishammuddin Factor
Surely Muhyiddin is not unaware that there are others in Umno who aspire to take over his job as DPM. For a start, talks are rife that Mohd Najib is preparing his cousin, Hishammuddin Hussein to take over the post although Hishammuddin himself is said to be uncomfortable with the speculation.
He is said to have told friends that such a speculation could have a negative effect on his chances of advancing in the party and cabinet.
Like Muhyiddin, Hishammuddin is a Johorian. It is well-know that Johor Umno leaders do not always get along well with each other.
And talks about Hishammuddin’s being groomed as Muhyiddin’s successor does not help to calm matters down.
Whether this is true or not will depend on where Hishammuddin goes when Mohd Najib finally reshuffled his Cabinet. It is widely speculated that Hishammuddin would take over the Finance Ministry from Mohd Najib.
Whether or not Hishammuddin is a Finance Minister material is debatable. But if he is given the post he will automatically become very powerful although not a single Finance Minister had risen to become PM.
The unofficial version of the story had it that Muhyiddin had told a very senior Supreme Council member that he was leaving because he could anymore cope with the goings-on in the government.
Muhyiddin may remain DPM but may let go of the Education Ministry and take on a smaller portfolio so that he can spend more time managing Umno but with on condition that he remains loyal to Mohd Najib.
Furthermore, under Mohd Najib's 1Malaysia, Muhyiddin is its Malay face. His "Malay first" assertion is popular with the Malays, especially those in Umno.
A. Kadir Jasin
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