Muhyiddin Yassin is acting in an entirely predictable manner. He is doing what a person of his nature can and will do—and I predict that what he is doing will not work.
To understand why, we first need to understand what is happening inside Perikatan Nasional (PN).
PN is losing.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2022 general election, PN was almost on equal footing with Pakatan Harapan (PH), both in parliamentary strength and perceived momentum. For more than a year after the election, PN even managed to keep alive the prospect of toppling the government—a remarkable feat for a coalition that did not form the administration.
Since then, however, defeat after defeat has pushed PN so far behind that it has effectively stopped talking about changing the government at all. The ambition has quietly evaporated.
Why is PN so weak?
A major reason is that Muhyiddin Yassin—the man at the helm until recently—is fundamentally unsuited to lead a coalition in PN’s current condition.
Muhyiddin is a manager. A coordinator. Had PN won and formed the government, he might well have been effective at managing the coalition and coordinating relationships between its component parties.
But PN did not form the government. It is the underdog.
And an underdog does not need a manager. It needs a fighter.
To topple an incumbent from a position of disadvantage requires boldness, aggression, and the ability to punch up. It requires a conqueror, not a caretaker. Muhyiddin fits this role like a square peg in a round hole.
PAS, PN’s largest component party, appears to have realised this for some time. For years, it has been quietly—and sometimes not so quietly—trying to push Muhyiddin aside.
The latest opening came during the Perlis Menteri Besar power scramble, when Bersatu assemblymen attempted an internal coup against a PAS chief minister. That episode exposed Muhyiddin’s inability to control his own party and protect coalition discipline.
Not long after, Muhyiddin stepped down as PN chairman.
But this “resignation” should not be taken at face value.
In reality, Muhyiddin appears to have engineered a strategic half-exit—one designed not to relinquish power, but to trap PN in an organisational dilemma.
PN is made up of four parties: PAS, Bersatu, Gerakan, and MIPP.
Following his resignation on Jan 1, Muhyiddin publicly declared that the next PN chairman must be a president of one of the coalition’s component parties. This, he said, was Bersatu’s official position.
That immediately narrowed the field to just four people:
- PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang
- Gerakan president Dominic Lau
- MIPP president P Punithan
- And Muhyiddin himself
Hadi has already ruled himself out, citing health reasons—while acknowledging the bind this creates. Gerakan and MIPP, meanwhile, are politically unviable choices to lead a national opposition coalition.
Muhyiddin himself admitted as much when he asked, rhetorically, “If I have resigned, one of the other three should be chairman. But if the other three can’t be the chairman, can you give me a solution?”
This is not confusion. This is choreography.
By insisting that only party presidents are eligible—while remaining president of Bersatu—Muhyiddin has constructed a rules-based deadlock that subtly points back to himself as the “only practical solution.”
He has even floated the idea of revamping PN’s constitution, ostensibly to improve administration and sustainability—another classic managerial move that focuses on structure rather than political direction.
Yet several PN leaders, including figures from Bersatu itself, have openly rejected this framing, arguing that the next PN chairman need not be a party president at all.
And this is where the real contest lies.
For structural and political reasons, PAS cannot lead PN directly—just as DAP, despite being PH’s largest party, does not lead PH. In both coalitions, leadership has to come from a less polarising component to avoid alienating voters and destabilising the country.
That is why Anwar Ibrahim leads PH, not DAP.
And that is why PN’s leader must come from Bersatu, not PAS.
Muhyiddin knows this. Which is precisely why he has not stepped down as Bersatu president.
But PAS now has another option: Hamzah Zainudin.
Hamzah is PN’s number two and a far more combative political operator. Choosing him would allow PAS to bypass Muhyiddin without violating the underlying logic of coalition leadership.
Yes, it would be awkward to have PN led by a man who is technically subordinate to Muhyiddin within Bersatu. But that awkwardness would be temporary.
In fact, if Hamzah were appointed PN chairman, the pressure would immediately shift onto Muhyiddin—who would then find himself being led by his own deputy, without the confidence of allies or even full support within his party.
And signs of that internal fracture are already visible. Muhyiddin himself has conceded that his relationship with Hamzah “could be better.” Bersatu has sacked two MPs and suspended another—figures widely seen as aligned with Hamzah—in what looks less like party discipline and more like factional warfare.
This is the irony of Muhyiddin Yassin.
He is decisive and ruthless when dealing with internal rivals, rules, and procedures. Yet when faced with external political opponents, he becomes lethargic and timid.
That is the mindset of a manager—not a challenger, and this is exactly why he is unsuited to lead an underdog party that is challenging the status quo.
If Muhyiddin returns as PN chairman, the only thing that he can be expected to do is use his organisational skills to maintain internal order while PN continues to suffer repeated losses, defeat and failure.
In other words, the only leadership that Muhyiddin can provide PN is the same leadership that the band leader of the Titanic provided his band. He can keep his band continue playing the music, even as they sink to the bottom of the sea. .
His current manoeuvre—using structures and technicalities to force allies into line—is itself proof of his unsuitability. It is not the move of a leader preparing to win power; it is the move of a man trying to preserve his organizational relevance within his organizational structure, regardless of how his organisation is faring.
But considering everything, I feel that Muhyiddin's cards are weak,
It is doubtful that anybody in PN wants to welcome Muhyiddin back to the top after he himself has stepped down, when no one believes that he can expected to lead them to victory.
Muhyiddin, in other words, has no game.
I predict that if if he persists with this bluff, it will be called. And when it is, he will lose far more than he is already set to lose.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@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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