In recent weeks, a political narrative has emerged suggesting that UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could become the next Prime Minister if UMNO or Barisan Nasional (BN) emerges victorious in the 16th General Election (GE16).
The narrative has been portrayed as an attempt to 'warn' voters, particularly following the political cooperation between UMNO and PAS in the recent Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.
The cooperation saw UMNO perform strongly in both states, with the party and its BN component parties increasing their representation in the state assemblies, while Pakatan Harapan (PH) experienced a decline.
UMNO’s gains in both states have also raised questions about the party’s political recovery after suffering significant setbacks in the 15th General Election (GE15) in 2022 and the six-state elections in 2023.
This raises a broader question: how did a party that was rejected by voters in 2022 manage to regain political strength and position itself as a potential alternative to the current administration?
Political analyst Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Sabri argues that part of the answer lies in decisions made by PH leaders themselves, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According to Zaharuddin, UMNO’s growing political relevance today can partly be understood as the consequence of the political compromise reached after GE15.
It is worth noting that UMNO and BN suffered a historic electoral setback in GE15. BN only secured 30 parliamentary seats, far behind PH with 82 seats while Perikatan Nasional (PN) surprisingly won 73 seats.
The result produced a hung Parliament, eventually leading to the formation of a unity government in which UMNO became a component. Zahid was subsequently appointed Deputy Prime Minister.
This, Zaharuddin notes, created an important political irony.
For years, PH had positioned itself around the idea of political change, yet after GE15 it ultimately had to share power with UMNO, the very party that had been one of the principal targets of the reformist wave that brought about the political change of 2018.
At the same time, Zaharuddin acknowledges that the decision had a constitutional and political rationale. Malaysia needed a government capable of commanding majority support and providing political stability.
However, he argues that the arrangement also carried a political cost that should not be overlooked.
For UMNO, participation in government provided something politically valuable: time.
Time to regroup, reorganise the party, regain its position at the centre of political power and, perhaps most importantly, transform its image from a party that suffered a major electoral setback into one that once again became relevant to determining who governs the country.
Zaharuddin also cautions that UMNO’s return to government does not mean that voters will simply forget questions surrounding integrity, transparency and leadership.
This is particularly relevant in the context of the 47 charges previously faced by Zahid, which were discontinued in 2026 after the prosecution decided not to proceed on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence. This followed his 2023 discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
From Zaharuddin’s perspective, if UMNO eventually returns as a decisive political force after GE16, part of that story can be traced back to November 2022.
The argument is not that PH somehow legitimised or absolved UMNO, but that it chose to share power with the party. That was the political price of compromise.
Therein lies what Zaharuddin sees as one of the central ironies of the Unity Government: a political force that had once sought to transform UMNO ultimately helped create the political space for UMNO to rebuild itself.
Whether voters ultimately interpret that development as political maturity or a strategic miscalculation, however, will not be determined by UMNO or PH alone.
It will ultimately be determined by the voters themselves.
Azzman Mantoya (azzman.tvpertiwi@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!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
