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At the Sheraton Hotel, in the early hours of May 10, 2018, the friendly Muhyiddin Yassin pulled me and Lim Kit Siang apart to ask DAP to support a Bersatu candidate for the Johor menteri kiss position. He needed the favor to acknowledge his contribution to changing the state’s vote to Pakatan Harapan.
Despite the fact that DAP won the most seats in the state assembly with 14, compared to Amanah with nine, Bersatu (8) and PKR (5), DAP did not claim the MB position. Kit Siang was open for discussion. After DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng consulted Amanah President Mohamad Sabu, DAP agreed to support Muhyiddin’s candidate for MB.
On May 11, 2018, Sultan Johor sent a plane to pick up Muhyiddin from Kuala Lumpur. I accompanied him. It was my first experience in a private jet.
Three months earlier, on February 8, 2018, Muhyiddin and I traveled together on a Malindo flight after a PH meeting in Johor. He told me that when he was deputy prime minister, he was traveling on a government plane dedicated to him.
As the leader of the unprivileged opposition, Muhyiddin said it felt good that people appreciated our fight. When he was at Barisan Nasional, he did not experience random members of the public paying for their meals in cafes or warung to show their support. The enthusiasm of the public was very encouraging.
On that May 2018 flight, Muhyiddin’s assistant told me that it was the team’s first experience flying aboard a private jet since their boss was fired as DPM in July 2015. They felt great about the 14th general election. because we create history by doing the right thing. for the nation, despite Muhyiddin’s personal sufferings between 2015 and 2018.
The next day, May 12, 2018, PH decided Muhyiddin as interior minister, Mat Sabu as defense minister, and Guan Eng as finance minister.
And the next day, I was at Muhyiddin’s house, just him and me. He was dejected. He told me that he had wanted to resign from all positions the night before, because his request to be appointed Minister of Finance was rejected by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He was persuaded to stay.
He also told me that in 1995, being Umno’s vice president with the most votes, and after serving as Johor MB for nine years, he moved to the federal level hoping to have a high-level economic portfolio. But Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister appointed him only for the youngest post of Minister of Youth and Sports. He informed me that Anwar Ibrahim told him to be patient and wait for 1998, hinting that Muhyiddin would be his choice for DPM.
In deep thought that quiet morning, Muhyiddin told me that after more than 20 years, having been DPM for six years (2009 to 2015), he would continue to serve as Anwar’s deputy if the transition of power between Dr. Mahathir and Anwar. ? Between us, there was no response.
Muhyiddin was diagnosed with cancer in July 2018. I visited him twice at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. Once alone, and the second time, I accompanied Guan Eng. He considered Muhyiddin an old friend and was genuinely concerned about his health.
In the months after his gradual recovery, at many of our meetings, he confided to me that he was thinking of giving it all up. The disease had changed his outlook on life.
Johor’s Dilemma
On April 24 of last year, after Muhyiddin and Dr. Mahathir clashed over Mazlan Bujang’s election as Johor Bersatu’s boss, I was with him in his office at the Home Office. He told me that he was thinking of throwing in the towel since Dr. Mahathir would not listen to his views even though Johor was his home state. Muhyiddin was chairman of the state council of Pakatan Harapan.
Muhyiddin was upset, but still signed Mazlan’s appointment letter. He told me that the Bersatu constitution dictated that, as president, he had to consult and accept the decisions of the president, Dr. Mahathir.
At subsequent meetings over the next few months, he repeatedly told me that he was still bitter with the Bersatu president over Mazlan’s election as head of the state chapter.
On June 6 of last year, Muhyiddin told me that he had mainly recovered from his illness. His doctor, who sat with us at Muhyiddin’s son’s open house, also said he was recovering very well. I was relieved to hear the news.
Fast forward to last October. The attempted coup by the Troika of Mohamed Azmin Ali, Hishammuddin Hussein and Hamzah Zainudin sparked racial sentiment at the Malay and non-Malay extremes. It was an attempt to form a new Malaysian unity coalition government without the participation of DAP and Amanah.
Muhyiddin was very concerned that “divergent opinions among us due to different ideological beliefs are becoming more pronounced now.” The feasibility of the Bersatu-DAP coalition relations was being seriously questioned, and the Bersatu hawks pressed him to act against DAP.
He hosted a small dinner between the top leaders of Bersatu and DAP on October 29 of last year to find ways to save the coalition. Both sides agreed that extreme narratives on the Malay and non-Malay fronts were causing us suffering in the middle. We should do more to keep the coalition together.
The meeting effectively, but temporarily, averted the attempted coup that month by Azmin, Hishammuddin and Hamzah using DAP as a sack man.
However, PH’s image was not recovered, especially when her opponents racially abused her.
On the night of November 16 last year, he was in the operating room with Muhyiddin and his inner circle, observing the results of Tg Piai’s midterm elections. The demoralized Muhyiddin commented that “this is worse than a tsunami.”
Peculiar movements, strange motives.
A special meeting of the PH presidential council was held on November 23 last year, with the sole agenda being to discuss Muhyiddin’s presentation as chairman of the PH election campaign committee.
He described the following political challenges:
– Racial feelings that result in a negative effect on the PH position;
– Malaysians perceive that PH was controlled by DAP;
– The Chinese perceive that PH was controlled by Bersatu and Dr. Mahathir;
– The question of the transition of power between the seventh and eighth PM caused the perception that the PH government was not stable; and,
– PH’s cabinet was perceived as incompetent.
He proposed that PH:
– Handle race and religion issues wisely by taking a more moderate and cautious approach;
– Change the image of DAP as anti-Malay, and Bersatu, anti-Chinese;
– Discipline party members who criticize their own party or leaders of another component of PH;
– Handle the transition of power between the seventh and eighth PMs wisely; and,
– Rearrange the cabinet to show that PH has a high performance cabinet.
Muhyiddin said PH should work to recover to a 60% public approval level within a year.
After the special meeting, and when Parliament went into recess, Muhyiddin made a trip abroad in late December and parts of January. He came back looking very fresh and in good health.
Mat Sabu met Muhyiddin on January 22. Their meeting left Mat Sabu with a very strange feeling. The then defense minister confided in me that he was concerned that Muhyiddin had a new idea that went against PH’s basic principles.
It seemed that Muhyiddin was thinking of some form of Malaysian unity government, and was no longer interested in Anwar becoming the next Prime Minister.
On January 31, I attended a Chinese New Year event with Muhyiddin in Grisek, in his Pagoh constituency. Subsequently, I visited Muhyiddin at his home for a long conversation on February 5.
He was very kind to me, as always. But I detected a change in his point of view. For him, if nothing changed in PH, Bersatu would lose badly in the next general elections. I gave him a countermeasure that Umno and PAS would eat Bersatu alive in any form of Malay unity-based coalition, therefore the best partner for Bersatu would be DAP as there would be little competition in the seats.
That day, I left with the feeling that something strange had happened, that something had changed in him. But he believed he was still weighing his options.
I thought that the honorable Muhyiddin, who always saw the bigger picture and was willing to give up to Dr. Mahathir in 2017, would probably still be there. He hoped that the Muhyiddin who repeatedly thought of resigning was not tempted by worldly positions, but was thinking about his legacy.
But, he is only human. Perhaps, the temptation was so great that he could not resist any longer. Perhaps, his frustration with Dr. Mahathir, the incitement of the Malay Troika from Azmin, Hishammuddin, and Hamzah, and his own final ambition to become PM finally tipped him toward the Sheraton Movement on February 23.
It saddens me that my old friend Muhyiddin has chosen this path. His good deeds in the epic fight against the Najib Razak kleptocracy are now giving way to an image of power grabbing without legitimate cause. Perhaps, Dr. Jekyll has been transformed into Mr. Hyde.
Some leaders and supporters of the Muhyiddin-led Perikatan Nasional are back with their nasty old tactic of vilifying the DAP in its attempt to inflame racial hatred.
Let me tell this to my old friend Muhyiddin. I am a DAP member. In the four years between 2016 and 2020, every time you asked for help from DAP, we never failed you, we did our best to help you. Playing the anti-DAP card to justify the existence of the PN coalition only makes you appear hypocritical. – May 15, 2020.
* Liew Chin Tong is a DAP strategist.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.
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