The strange case of Muhyiddin Yassin part 1 and 2

ResellerMaxis

The strange case of Muhyiddin Yassin

Part 1

In the text messages Muhyiddin Yassin sent me in the past four years, he would always preface it with “Bro”. As I am younger than some of his children, I always courteously address him as “Tan Sri”.


My personal story of this mild-mannered man reminds me of the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It was really a strange tale but perhaps it’s all human nature when one is faced with the temptation of power.

We first met on April 11, 2016 when Anthony Loke and I, both of us representing the DAP, had our long introductory chat with him for slightly more than two hours.

Muhyiddin, who was sacked as deputy prime minister on July 28, 2015 for questioning Najib Razak’s involvement with the 1MDB scandal, has been monitored and followed by Special Branch. Not wanting to attract attention, his aide rented a hotel room in Petaling Jaya. Loke and I went in 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 with Lim Kit Siang, also at a hotel, in Kuala Lumpur. We went through the same process. We went in first, then Muhyiddin came in.

Today, I sincerely hope Muhyiddin would not use the Special Branch to monitor Pakatan Harapan leaders the way they preyed on 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 strategy meetings involving all opposition leaders and some civil society leaders on June 28, 2016 and July 14, 2016 to pave the way for the formation of a new party.

In that meeting with Lim, Muhyiddin told us his new party would contest 15 parliamentary seats, whereas in our communication with Dr Mahathir’s side, we were told Dr Mahathir was looking at contesting 40 seats.

After the meeting, Lim’s view was that Dr Mahathir’s figure was more realistic (eventually Bersatu contested 51 seats) as one wouldn’t form a national party just to contest 15 seats.

Muhyiddin was less ambitious at that time because he thought his party would still have to work with PAS, while Dr Mahathir had discounted the Islamist party, which he saw as nothing but Najib’s collaborator.

In the meeting, Muhyiddin also asked Lim to assist his new party to fight Najib together, and the DAP veteran pledged his full support.

On December 13, 2016, Muhyiddin led the new leadership of Bersatu to PKR’s 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 that point in time Muhyiddin was still thinking of forming a “Barisan Rakyat” as a new platform to work with both PAS and the PH parties.  

Mahathir, however, had been clearer much earlier. On November 12, 2016, in his speech at the PH convention, the former prime minister was already talking about Bersatu joining PH. Mahathir was way ahead of time while Muhyiddin and Mukhriz finally gave up on PAS in February 2017.

Who will be PM?

After the signing ceremony, in a private office at the PKR headquarters, an important civil society leader openly said in front of Muhyiddin and then PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that she was not suited to be prime minister. Instead the person proposed Muhyiddin as prime minister and PKR deputy 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 persuade me that Azmin should be PH’s prime ministerial candidate. It was just two months after Anwar Ibrahim was sent to jail on February 10, 2015.

On January 9 and 10, 2017, Sin Chew Daily published a two-part exclusive interview with Muhyiddin with an agenda to sow distrust among Chinese voters towards Bersatu leaders. Sin Chew headlined Muhyiddin’s reservation about the Unified Examination Certificate, which resulted in some of his Chinese friends not being happy with him.

Muhyiddin and I got in touch. He invited me for breakfast at his favourite restaurant near his house on January 24, 2017. This was the first of my many one-on-one meetings with him.

We chatted for three hours. He told me he wanted to understand DAP more, “since we now have to work together”. Inevitably, one of the topics was on the position of prime minister.

At Muhyiddin’s request, Lim met him on February 7, 2017. He requested DAP’s support for his candidature as prime minister. Lim said to him the matter needed to be discussed with Anwar as DAP’s then default position was to support Anwar as prime minister.

For the next couple of months, the idea of Muhyiddin-Azmin pair was still being promoted even after PH formally accepted Bersatu as a component party. It held the first presidential council meeting with the presence of Bersatu leaders on March 27, 2017 at 14th Floor of the Parliament building.

By April 2017, the idea of Mahathir being prime minister was discussed in some private meetings. However, Mahathir being prime minister again didn’t bode well with Anwar’s inner circle. Even Muhyiddin’s camp initially resisted the idea, but gradually Mahathir’s popularity on the ground became obvious.

Not long after, Muhyiddin decided to support Mahathir as Bersatu’s prime ministerial candidate. I respect him for looking at the bigger picture and cast aside his personal ambition. It was honourable of him.

It took months for PH to decide on Mahathir as chairman. The deal almost collapsed, saved only by Nurul Izzah Anwar’s visit to the Mahathir family in London during Hari Raya.

At 12.30am on July 14, 2017, PH named Mahathir as its chairman, Anwar as coalition leader, and Wan Azizah as president.

Azmin’s faction walked out, furious that the deal was reached as a Mahathir-Anwar pact would effectively postpone Azmin’s route to become prime minister. Muhyiddin was, however, wholeheartedly supportive of the realignment, and refuse to entertain Azmin’s tantrums.

The matter didn’t end there. The insatiable Azmin was still pushing for the Muhyiddin-Azmin as PM-DPM but Muhyiddin was not involved.

There were very heated arguments with Azmin and his 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 announcing Dr Mahathir as the seventh prime minister and Anwar as the eighth, with the voracious Azmin’s faction objecting vehemently.

Negotiators from all parties raced against time to complete negotiations on January 6, 2018 for the announcement of Mahathir’s and Anwar’s prime ministerial candidatures, as well as Wan Azizah’s candidature as deputy prime minister, at the PH convention on January 7, 2018.

Again, Muhyiddin proved he was a gentleman by supporting the deal while Azmin’s associates continued to protest at the convention.

Besides the top post, the convention also announced the deal for seat negotiation for Parliamentary seats in Peninsula, a first in history.

The Johor gambit

Muhyiddin, Amanah’s Sallahuddin Ayub, PKR’s Nurul Izzah, DAP’s Loke and Johor PH leaders settled the seat negotiation for Johor on January 18, 2018, the first state to do so.

Muhyiddin asked Loke and I to get DAP to agree to stick to contesting 14 seats in the interest of the coalition, to which we complied. Originally DAP wanted to contest in 16 Johor seats, by then still a Barisan Nasional stronghold. From then on, Johor was the frontline state that propelled 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 past election).

As Johor DAP chairman, I worked very closely with Muhyiddin. He decided to stay put in Pagoh and not to move to a “safer seat”, a great confidence booster for PH supporters. In GE14, the choices of seats by Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and Mahathir sent a strong message to all voters that they were going for broke.

Muhyiddin’s aides and I looked at the numbers and we were confident of Muhyiddin’s victory in Pagoh. The constituency has 64% Malay voters and 36% others. I chose the toughest parliamentary seat Ayer Hitam to make the point that it was a “do-or-die” battle. We were confident Muhyiddin would win with a high non-Malay support and more than 40% Malay votes. In the end, he polled 55.21% of votes, a decent victory for PH in a semi-rural constituency.

On election night, I travelled from Yong Peng in Johor to arrive at Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya past midnight. Muhyiddin comforted me for my loss in Ayer Hitam. On that historic night, I could feel the warmth of his sincerity. – May 14, 2020.

Part 2

DAP never failed you each time you asked for help, Muhyiddin

At Sheraton Hotel in the early hours of May 10, 2018, the mild-mannered Muhyiddin Yassin pulled me and Lim Kit Siang aside to ask the DAP to support a Bersatu candidate for the post of Johor menteri besar.

He needed the favour to acknowledge his contribution in swinging the state votes to Pakatan Harapan.

Despite the DAP winning the largest number of seats, 14 in total, compared to Amanah with 9, Bersatu 8 and PKR 5 in the state assembly, the DAP was not claiming the post of menteri besar. Kit Siang was open for discussion.


After DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng consulted Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, the DAP agreed to support Muhyiddin’s nominee for menteri besar.

On May 11, 2018, the sultan of Johor sent an aircraft to pick up Muhyiddin from Kuala Lumpur.

I tagged along. It was my first-ever experience on a private jet.

Three months earlier, on February 8, 2018, Muhyiddin and I travelled together on a Malindo low-cost flight after a Harapan Johor meeting.

He told me that when he was deputy prime minister, he had travelled on a government jet dedicated to him.

As an opposition leader without any privileges, Muhyiddin said he felt good that people appreciated our struggle.

When he was in Barisan Nasional, he had not experienced random public member paying for his meals at coffee shops or warung just to show support. The public enthusiasm was very encouraging.

On that May 2018 flight, Muhyiddin’s aide told me this was the team’s first experience in a private jet since their boss was sacked as DPM in July 2015.

They felt great about GE14 because we created history by doing the right thing for the nation, albeit Muhyiddin’s personal sufferings between 2015 and 2018.

The next day, on May 12, 2018, Harapan decided Muhyiddin as home minister, Mohamad as defence minister, and Guan Eng as finance minister.


And the next day on May 13, I was at Muhyiddin’s house, just me and him. He was feeling dejected.

He told me he wanted to resign from all positions the night before because his request to be appointed as finance minister was turned down by Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He was persuaded to stay on.

He also told me that in 1995, being the Umno vice-president with the highest votes and after serving as Johor menteri besar for nine years, he moved to the federal government expecting to hold a senior economic portfolio.

But Mahathir as the then PM, only appointed him to the most junior position of youth and sports minister.

He informed me that Anwar Ibrahim told him to be patient and wait for 1998, hinting that Muhyiddin would be his choice of deputy prime minister.

In deep reflection during that tranquil morning, Muhyiddin said to me that after more than 20 years, after he had served as deputy prime minister for six years (2009 to 2015), was he still going to serve as Anwar’s deputy should the transition of power between Mahathir and Anwar were to happen?

Between us, there was no answer.

Muhyiddin was diagnosed with cancer in July 2018. I visited him twice at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore.


Once by myself and the second time I accompanied Guan Eng. I considered Muhyiddin an elderly friend and was really worried about his health.

In the months after his gradual recovery, in many of our meetings, he confided to me that he was thinking of calling it quits. The illness changed his perspective on life.

The Johor quandary

On April 24, 2019, after Muhyiddin and Mahathir clashed on the choice of Mazlan Bujang as Johor Bersatu chief, I was with him at his Home Ministry office.

He told me he was thinking of throwing in the towel as Mahathir wouldn’t listen to his views even though Johor was his home state.

Muhyiddin was the chairperson of the Harapan Johor council.

He was upset but would still sign Mazlan’s appointment letter.

He told me that Bersatu’s constitution dictated that as president he had to consult and accept the decisions of his chairperson, Mahathir.

In the subsequent meetings over the next several months, he repeatedly told me that he was still bitter with the Bersatu chairperson over the choice of Mazlan.

On June 6, 2019, Muhyiddin told me he has mostly recovered from his illness.

His doctor who sat with us at the open house of Muhyiddin’s son also said he was recovering very well. I was relieved to hear the good news.

Fast forward to October 2019. The attempted national political coup put together by the troika of Azmin Ali, Hishammuddin Hussein and Hamzah Zainudin kicked up huge racial sentiments on both the Malay and non-Malay ends.


It was an attempt to form a new Malay unity coalition government without the participation of the DAP and Amanah.

Muhyiddin was very concerned that “divergent views among us because of different ideological beliefs are becoming more pronounced now”.

The viability of the Bersatu-DAP coalition relations was being seriously questioned and there were huge pressures from the hawks in Bersatu on him to act against the DAP.

He hosted a small dinner between top Bersatu and DAP leaders on October 29, 2019, to find ways to save the coalition.

Both parties agreed that the extreme narratives on both Malay and non-Malay fronts are resulting in us suffering in the middle. We should do more to hold the coalition together.

The meeting effectively but temporarily fended off the attempted October coup by the troika of Azmin, Hishammuddin and Hamzah using the DAP as a bogeyman.

However, Harapan’s image did not improve, especially when abused racially by its opponents.

On the night of November 16, 2019, I was in the operations room with Muhyiddin and his inner circle watching the results of the Tanjung Piai by-election streaming in.


The demoralised Muhyiddin commented that “this was worse than a tsunami.”

Peculiar moves, stranger motives

A special Harapan presidential council meeting was held on November 23, 2019, with the sole agenda of discussing the presentation by Muhyiddin as chairperson of the Harapan election campaign committee.

He outlined the following political challenges:

Racial sentiments resulting in the
negative effect on Harapan’s standing
Malays perceived that Harapan
was controlled by the DAP
The Chinese perceived that Harapan
was controlled by Bersatu and Mahathir
The question of transition
between the 7th PM and 8th PM caused the perception that the Harapan
government was not stable
The Harapan cabinet was
perceived as incompetent
He proposed Harapan:

To handle race and religion
issues wisely by taking a more moderate and cautious approach
To change the image of the DAP being
anti-Malay, Bersatu anti-Chinese
To discipline party members who
criticise their own party or criticise leaders of another Harapan
component party
To handle the transition between
the 7th PM and the 8th PM wisely
To reshuffle the cabinet to show
that Harapan has a high-performance cabinet
Muhyiddin proposed that Harapan should work towards recovering to a level of 60 percent approval rating within a year’s time.

After the special meeting and as Parliament went into recess, Muhyiddin went for a year-end overseas trip in late December and part of January. He returned looking very fresh and he was in very good health.

Mohamad Sabu met Muhyiddin on January 22, 2020. Their meeting left the former with a very strange feeling.

The then defence minister confided with me that he was worried that Muhyiddin had a new idea that was against the basic principles of Harapan.

It seemed that Muhyiddin was thinking of some form of Malay unity government and he was no longer keen on Anwar becoming the next PM.

On January 31, I attended a Chinese New Year event with Muhyiddin in Grisek in his Pagoh constituency.

Subsequently, I visited Muhyiddin at his house for a long chat on February 5.

He was very friendly to me, as always. But I detected a change in his view.

For him, if nothing was changed in Harapan, then Bersatu would lose badly in the next general election.

I gave him a counterview that Bersatu would be eaten up alive by Umno and PAS in any form of Malay unity coalition, hence the best partner for Bersatu was the DAP as there would be little competition in seats.


That day I went away with a feeling that something strange had happened, something had changed in him but I believed he was still weighing his options.

I thought that the honourable Muhyiddin who always saw the larger picture and was prepared to concede to Mahathir in 2017 would probably still be there.

I hoped that the Muhyiddin who repeatedly thought of quitting would not be tempted by worldly positions but would think about his legacies.

But he is only human. Perhaps the temptation was so great he couldn’t resist anymore.

Perhaps his frustration with Mahathir, the prompting of the Malay troika of Azmin, Hishammuddin and Hamzah and his own ultimate ambition of becoming PM finally tilted him towards the Sheraton political coup on February 23.

I am sad that my elderly friend Muhyiddin has chosen this path.

His good deeds in the epic fight against Najib Razak’s kleptocracy are now giving way to an image of power-grabbing without a legitimate cause.

Perhaps Dr Jekyll has been transformed into Mr Hyde.

Some leaders and supporters of the Muhyiddin-led loose coalition Perikatan Nasional are back with their old nasty tactic of vilifying the DAP in their attempt to inflame racial hatred.

Let me just say this to my elderly friend Muhyiddin. I am a DAP member.

In four years between 2016 and 2020, each time you asked DAP for help, we never failed you, we did everything possible to assist you.

Playing the anti-DAP card to justify the existence of the Perikatan Nasional coalition would only make you seem hypocritical.


* Liew Chin Tong is a DAP strategist

adm7

Taktau cerita betul ke tidak ni
Tapi skrg ni dia dah pun jadi perdana menteri.
Yang lain dah jadi sejarah.
Meroyan la sesama korang

sarah82

SORE LOSER gila la PH ni

cikrosienona

Who wrote this? Sounds bitter.

becir

Sapa penulis ni?

axl_bach

ni cerita sapa actually @ResellerMaxis ? smlm aku baca kat fb Kadir Jasin, igt dia yg cerita

ResellerMaxis

axl_bach replied at 16-5-2020 08:03 PM
ni cerita sapa actually @ResellerMaxis ? smlm aku baca kat fb Kadir Jasin, igt dia yg cerita

Liew Chin Tong

ResellerMaxis

adm7 replied at 16-5-2020 07:56 PM
Taktau cerita betul ke tidak ni
Tapi skrg ni dia dah pun jadi perdana menteri.
Yang lain dah jadi  ...

Mestilah cerita betul. Tapi sejarah yang perlu di kenang utk dijadikan pengajaran.

axl_bach

ResellerMaxis replied at 16-5-2020 08:05 PM
Liew Chin Tong

Sapa ahpek ni? Aku igt Kadir Jasin punya pengalaman, siap cakap naik private plane dgn Abah Mahiaddin lagi.....

adm7

ResellerMaxis replied at 16-5-2020 08:06 PM
Mestilah cerita betul. Tapi sejarah yang perlu di kenang utk dijadikan pengajaran.

Yela tu.
Teruskan meroyan dan meratib

zamzam

Alahaiii dlm coalition biasalah  you scratch my back I scratch yours. You tolong I nanti I tolong you. Try harder lahhhhh.....

zamzam

ResellerMaxis replied at 16-5-2020 08:06 PM
Mestilah cerita betul. Tapi sejarah yang perlu di kenang utk dijadikan pengajaran.

Tp dap xkisah bab sejarah. Sbb tu dorang agungkan komenes

zamzam

axl_bach replied at 16-5-2020 08:07 PM
Sapa ahpek ni? Aku igt Kadir Jasin punya pengalaman, siap cakap naik private plane dgn Abah Mahiad ...

Wah private plane. Bukan dulu dok maki bn kalau guna private plane ker?

sambaldurian

ak lg kecewa dgn lim guan eng n penasihat kewangan yg xnk amek gaji tu tony pua tu. dulu dok canang2 sst mengurangkan harga brg la, nan hado. sama je. bursa saham cmtu2 je.  kita ingat terer sgt, sama je kepandaian dgn menteri2 kewangan umno dulu. xde beza pun.

ResellerMaxis

zamzam replied at 16-5-2020 08:24 PM
Wah private plane. Bukan dulu dok maki bn kalau guna private plane ker?

Private plane sultan johor hantar kan.

ResellerMaxis

sambaldurian replied at 16-5-2020 08:27 PM
ak lg kecewa dgn lim guan eng n penasihat kewangan yg xnk amek gaji tu tony pua tu. dulu dok canang2 ...

22 bulan jer. Amik alih pula dari kleptokrat. Memang lah banyak cabaran.

Nes3in1

Mula dah ungkit mengungkiti, sakit menyakiti...

ashilalat

ResellerMaxis replied at 16-5-2020 08:06 PM
Mestilah cerita betul. Tapi sejarah yang perlu di kenang utk dijadikan pengajaran.

Sejarah komenes bunuh rakyat malaysia ko x kenang pulak utk dijadikan pengajaran? Sejarah cinau india masuk Malaysia x nak jadikan pengajaran?

slavehunter

Masa PH menang i terima jer kenyataan.....i tak jadi sour grapes pun. Sekarang PN pulak menang...pls la accept kenyataan balik.

ResellerMaxis

ashilalat replied at 16-5-2020 08:32 PM
Sejarah komenes bunuh rakyat malaysia ko x kenang pulak utk dijadikan pengajaran? Sejarah cina kel ...

Kalau ada pengajaran utk dikongsikan silakan lah.