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By Mihar Dias January 2026
If politics is like old bangsawan, then Malaysian politics this week resembles improvisational drama—actors exiting mid-scene, understudies arguing over scripts, and an audience unsure whether the play has ended or merely changed acts.
Yet amid the noise, one move stands out for its clarity and restraint: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s decision to resign as Perikatan Nasional (PN) president.
In a political culture where leaders cling to titles long after authority has evaporated, Muhyiddin’s resignation deserves applause. It is not an admission of defeat; it is an acknowledgement of reality. And in Malaysian politics, that is a rare form of courage.
Sabah divisions of the party called for his resignation after a disastrous performance at the recent state election. This was followed by a chorus in Perak calling for his resignation. Then there’s the Perlis SD over dissatisfaction with MB of the state with Bersatu's ADUN playing lead roles.https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/12/29/bersatu-takes-perlis-helm-with-move-seen-as-rebalancing-of-power
Anyway. PN was never a coalition built on ideology. It was a vehicle of convenience—an emergency raft assembled during the post-Sheraton chaos, powered more by shared grievances than shared principles.
Muhyiddin, as its founding figure, was the ballast that kept this fragile structure afloat. When the architect steps aside, it is only honest to accept that the building must be reassessed.
His exit triggered a chain reaction: Datuk Seri Azmin Ali resigning as PN secretary-general, followed by several state leaders stepping down. Critics may call this disarray. https://www.bernama.com/en/politics/news.php?id=2507428
But there is another way to read it: Muhyiddin removed the illusion of stability so that reality could finally assert itself. People do not abandon a rising ship. They leave when they sense the compass is broken.
What Muhyiddin has done—quietly and without melodrama—is expose PN’s central weakness. Its leadership was always vertical, not institutional. Once the apex weakened, the pyramid inevitably collapsed inward. To pretend otherwise would have been dishonest to supporters and destructive to the country’s political hygiene.
Contrast this with the Malaysian norm, where leaders under pressure tighten their grip, blame conspiracies, or declare themselves victims of unseen hands.
Muhyiddin chose instead to step back. In doing so, he spared PN a prolonged agony and Malaysia another season of political farce.
PAS, unsurprisingly, is now playing a longer game. While PN fractures, PAS remains organisationally intact, ideologically disciplined, and electorally patient. Its campaign director, Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, calling for a revival of Muafakat Nasional with Umno is not nostalgia—it is strategy.https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2025/12/1346178/sanusi-muafakat-nasional-needed-grassroots-level-ahead-ge16
PAS understands arithmetic better than rhetoric. PN without Bersatu is untenable. PN without PAS is nonexistent.
A revived Muafakat, despite its past collapse, offers PAS something PN no longer can: a partner with deep grassroots machinery across the Malay heartlands and a plausible route back to federal relevance should the winds shift again.
For Umno, the invitation is both tempting and toxic. Tempting because Umno is diminished, internally fractured, and still searching for a narrative beyond survival. Toxic because PAS is no longer the junior partner it once was. Any revived Muafakat would not be Umno-led; it would be PAS-managed.
Here lies the irony. Umno once feared Bersatu as the splinter threat that could hollow it out. Today, Bersatu is dissolving, while PAS has become the axis around which opposition politics turns.
Seen this way, what we are witnessing is not chaos but realignment. Coalitions formed in panic are now collapsing under gravity.
PN was born out of expediency after Sheraton. Expediency, like all shortcuts, has an expiry date.
The broader lesson is sobering. Malaysian politics is finally punishing parties without clear ideological anchors. Bersatu’s raison d’être was anti-Najib, anti-Umno moralism. Once Najib was jailed and Umno returned to government through other configurations, Bersatu was left opposing little more than political reality itself.
PAS, by contrast, knows exactly who it is, what it wants, and how long it is willing to wait.
Muhyiddin’s resignation should therefore be read not as surrender, but as statesmanship. By stepping aside, he allowed the system to recalibrate rather than rot. He chose the long view over personal preservation—something Malaysian politics desperately needs more of.
Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Something new will emerge from this unravelling. The real question is not whether change is coming—but whether Malaysians will recognise the value of leaders who know when to lead, and when to leave.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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