THE appointment of Umno leaders to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s cabinet has eased infighting between factions aligned with Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Hishammuddin Hussein, said party insiders.

They told The Malaysian Insight that the division of spoils between the two sides helped strengthen the nascent Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

Sources said Bersatu president Muhyiddin had to work out a settlement between the Umno factions to ensure that PN did not crumble before it could even take off.

Umno has nine ministers and eight deputy ministers in the new cabinet. The party counts 39 MPs among its ranks.

Last week, a source said tensions ran high between party president Zahid’s faction and former vice-president Hishammuddin’s allies as Muhyiddin began putting his cabinet together.

“It was tense. Even though the prime minister has the prerogative to appoint his ministers, the views of the Umno president also had to be taken into consideration.

“The president also had to look out for his people and avoid conflict in the party.

“But after the list was announced, the tensions eased as both sides are represented in the cabinet,” said another party insider.

Another source said those aligned with the president – vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, secretary-general Annuar Musa and information chief Shamsul Anuar Nasarah – are in the cabinet.

Ismail is defence minister, Annuar (Federal Territories minister) and Shamsul (energy and natural resources minister).

Among the other Umno ministers, except for Khairy Jamaluddin, all are aligned with Hishammuddin, said a different source.

They are Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad, Dr Adham Baba (health), Halimah Mohamed Sadique (national unity) and Reezal Merican Naina Merican (youth and sports).

The source said Khairy, who holds the science, technology and innovation portfolio, is neutral.

The deputy ministers, meanwhile, are evenly split between the two camps.  

“Annuar hinted last week that if the wrong choices were made, PN would be in trouble. But once these key people in Zahid’s camp got in as ministers, things have eased,” said the same source.

The Umno secretary-general, in a series of tweets, had warned that PN would be a short-lived government.

“One of the reasons for Pakatan Harapan’s downfall was their failure to manage between the prime minister’s personal idealism and the aspirations of the component parties.

“They forget that we are not a republic, but a Westminster-style democracy. These are vastly different systems. We are also not a one-party system, but that of loose coalitions.

“If it is not managed properly, believe me, PN will break PH’s record as the shortest-lived government.

“Any turmoil now would mean Parliament must be dissolved and a snap election must be held.” – March 11, 2020.