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IN the text messages Muhyiddin Yassin sent me in the past four years, I always preface it with “Bro”. Since I am younger than some of his children, I always treat him politely as “Tan Sri”.
My personal story of this kind man reminds me of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was truly a strange story, but perhaps it is all of human nature when one faces the temptation of power.
We met on April 11, 2016 when Anthony Loke and I, both representing DAP, had our long introductory talk with him for just over two hours.
Muhyiddin, who was fired as deputy prime minister on July 28, 2015 for questioning Najib Razak’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal, has been monitored and followed by Special Branch. Not wanting to attract attention, his assistant rented a hotel room in Petaling Jaya. Loke and I entered first, followed by Muhyiddin 10 minutes later. When the meeting ended, he left first. We left 10 minutes later.
On July 25, 2016, Muhyiddin met Lim Kit Siang, also at a hotel, in Kuala Lumpur. We go through the same process. We entered first, then Muhyiddin entered.
Today, I sincerely hope that Muhyiddin does not use the Special Branch to monitor the leaders of Pakatan Harapan in the way they took advantage of him when he was out of power.
To put things in context, first, Muhyiddin and Mukhriz Mahathir were expelled from Umno on June 24, 2016. Second, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad held two strategic meetings involving all opposition leaders and some leaders of civil society on June 28, 2016 and July 14, 2016 to pave the way for the formation of a new party.
At that meeting with Lim, Muhyiddin told us that his new party would contest 15 parliamentary seats, while in our communication with Dr. Mahathir’s side, we were told that Dr. Mahathir was seeking to contest 40 seats.
After the meeting, Lim’s opinion was that the figure of Dr. Mahathir was more realistic (eventually Bersatu contested 51 seats) since one would not form a national party just to contest 15 seats.
Muhyiddin was less ambitious at the time because he thought his party would still have to work with PAS, while Dr. Mahathir had dismissed the Islamist party, which he viewed as nothing more than Najib’s collaborator.
At the meeting, Muhyiddin also asked Lim to help his new party fight Najib together, and the DAP veteran pledged his full support.
On December 13, 2016, Muhyiddin directed Bersatu’s new leadership to PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya to sign a memorandum of understanding with PH.
It was the first official attempt to align Bersatu with PH, although at the time Muhyiddin was still thinking of forming a “Barisan Rakyat” as a new platform to work with the PAS and PH parties.
Mahathir, however, had been clearer long before. On November 12, 2016, in his speech at the PH convention, the former Prime Minister was already talking about Bersatu joining PH. Mahathir was ahead of time, while Muhyiddin and Mukhriz finally left the PAS in February 2017.
Who will be PM?
After the signing ceremony, in a private office at PKR headquarters, a senior civil society leader openly told Muhyiddin and then PKR President Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that she was not suitable for be prime minister. Instead, the person proposed Muhyiddin as Prime Minister and PKR Vice President Mohamed Azmin Ali as his deputy. The meeting did not end well.
That same civil society leader met me for lunch in April 2015 to convince me that Azmin should be the candidate for PH Prime Minister. It was only two months after Anwar Ibrahim was sent to prison on February 10, 2015.
On January 9-10, 2017, Sin Chew Daily published an exclusive two-part interview with Muhyiddin with an agenda to spread mistrust among Chinese voters towards Bersatu leaders. Sin Chew topped Muhyiddin’s reservation on the Unified Exam Certificate, resulting in some of his Chinese friends not being happy with it.
Muhyiddin and I got in touch. He invited me to breakfast at his favorite restaurant near his home on January 24, 2017. This was the first of my many personal meetings with him.
We chatted for three hours. He said he wanted to understand DAP more, “since now we have to work together.” Inevitably, one of the issues was the position of prime minister.
At Muhyiddin’s request, Lim met with him on February 7, 2017. He requested DAP’s support for his candidacy as Prime Minister. Lim told him that the matter needed to be discussed with Anwar, since DAP’s default position was to support Anwar as prime minister.
During the following months, the idea of the Muhyiddin-Azmin couple was still promoted until PH formally accepted Bersatu as an integral part. The first presidential council meeting was held in the presence of Bersatu leaders on March 27, 2017 on the 14th floor of the Parliament building.
In April 2017, the idea of Mahathir being prime minister was discussed in some private meetings. However, the fact that Mahathir was prime minister again did not bode well for Anwar’s inner circle. Even Muhyiddin’s camp initially resisted the idea, but gradually Mahathir’s popularity on the ground became apparent.
Not long after, Muhyiddin decided to support Mahathir as a candidate for Prime Minister of Bersatu. I respect him for looking at the big picture and letting go of his personal ambition. It was honorable of him.
It took months for PH to decide on Mahathir as president. The deal nearly collapsed, saved only by Nurul Izzah Anwar’s visit to the Mahathir family in London during Hari Raya.
At 12:30 p.m. On July 14, 2017, PH appointed Mahathir as its president, Anwar as the coalition leader, and Wan Azizah as president.
The Azmin faction withdrew, furious that the agreement was reached as a Mahathir-Anwar pact would effectively postpone Azmin’s route to become prime minister. However, Muhyiddin wholeheartedly supported the realignment and refused to entertain Azmin’s tantrums.
The matter did not end there. The insatiable Azmin was still pressing for the Muhyiddin-Azmin as PM-DPM, but Muhyiddin was not involved.
There were very heated discussions with Azmin and her associates at the PH retreat on December 1 and 2, 2017 in Putrajaya. Of the four parties (Amanah, Bersatu, DAP and PKR), three and a half agreed to announce Dr. Mahathir as the seventh prime minister and Anwar as the eighth, with the voracious faction of Azmin vehemently objecting.
Negotiators from all sides ran against time to complete the negotiations on January 6, 2018 for the announcement of the nominations for Prime Minister of Mahathir and Anwar, as well as Wan Azizah’s candidacy as Deputy Prime Minister, at the PH convention. on January 7, 2018.
Once again, Muhyiddin demonstrated that he was a gentleman by supporting the deal, while Azmin’s associates continued to protest at the convention.
In addition to first place, the convention also announced the agreement for the negotiation of seats for parliamentary seats on the Peninsula, the first in history.
Johor’s gambit
Muhyiddin, Sallahuddin Ayub of Amanah, Nurul Izzah of PKR, Loke of DAP and PH leaders of Johor resolved to negotiate the seat for Johor on January 18, 2018, the first state to do so.
Muhyiddin asked Loke and me to let DAP agree to fight to contest 14 seats in the interest of the coalition, which we did. Originally, DAP wanted to compete in 16 Johor seats, by then it was still a fortress of Barisan Nasional. Thereafter, Johor was the front-line state that propelled the PH to national victory, winning 18 parliamentary seats (more than triple the five seats in 2013) and 36 state seats (doubling the 18 seats in the last election) .
As the president of Johor DAP, I worked closely with Muhyiddin. He decided to stay in Pagoh and not move to a “safer seat”, a great confidence booster for PH supporters. In GE14, the Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and Mahathir seat elections sent a strong message to all voters that they were going bankrupt.
Muhyiddin’s aides and I looked at the numbers and were confident of Muhyiddin’s victory at Pagoh. The constituency has 64% of Malaysian voters and 36% more. I chose the most difficult parliamentary seat, Yesterday Hitam, to point out that it was a “do or die” battle. We were confident that Muhyiddin would win with high non-Malay support and over 40% Malaysian votes. In the end, he got 55.21% of the vote, a decent victory for PH in a semi-rural constituency.
On election night, I traveled from Yong Peng in Johor to arrive at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya after midnight. Muhyiddin consoled me for my loss in Ayer Hitam. On that historic night, I could feel the warmth of his sincerity. – May 14, 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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