UMNO Withdraw Support For PM Muhyiddin, Demand His Immediate Resignation

The UMNO saga reached its conclusion as the party pulled support for PM Muhyiddin and demanded his resignation over "seven deadly sins," following weeks of infighting among UMNO leaders. The decision was announced in a Facebook post by UMNO President Zahid after a lengthy Supreme Council meeting, which dragged on into Thursday morning.

• The declaration means that the cabinet is on the brink of losing its razor-thin majority in parliament. As a reminder, lawmakers will assemble this month for the first time since the suspension of parliament on January 11.
• UMNO Supreme Council's decision came just hours after PM Muhyiddin promoted two prominent members of the party to very senior cabinet posts. Defence Minister Ismail Sabri became Muhyiddin's Deputy, while Hishammuddin was named a Senior Minister for security.
• In hindsight, Muhyiddin's move may have been an attempt to pre-empt UMNO's defection by co-opting some of its senior leaders and raising the cost of defection. Malay Mail sources suggested as much. Before Ismail Sabri's promotion, there was no Deputy Prime Minister in Malaysia. The political fates of Ismail Sabri and Hishammudin after Muhyiddin's failed gambit remain unclear.
• Elsewhere, Malay Mail reported that a heated dispute over the proposal to leave the ruling coalition, pushed for by UMNO President Zahid during the Supreme Council meeting, evolved into a bitter power struggle. The newspaper's source said that Ismail Sabri "led the charge" against Zahid during the closed-doors meeting and his faction demanded that the party leader stands down, but the latter managed to sway most Supreme Council members.
• A political analyst from Universiti Malaya told RFM that all UMNO leaders and MPs must immediately relinquish any positions in government or face disciplinary action. Another analyst speculated that Mahathir Mohamad could return as an interim Premier, with Zahid unlikely to receive nomination.
• Zahid did not name any candidate for caretaker Prime Minister, but also refused to back opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim or any other candidate from the opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance. He noted that as soon as Malaysia achieves herd immunity against Covid-19, the country should hold a general election.
• Zahid's announcement increases the already elevated political uncertainty in Malaysia, amid question marks surrounding the loyalties of UMNO MPs and cabinet members (previous reports suggested most of them opposed Zahid's initiative, in contrast to Supreme Council members) as well as the composition of any interim government, if PM Muhyiddin gets unseated.