FOLLOWING months of speculation, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin surprised everyone on his first day back at the office, after being hospitalised on June 30, by announcing two promotions for Umno ministers.

Amidst the party’s threats of leaving the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government and pulling their support from the beleaguered prime minister, Muhyiddin said that Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had been promoted to deputy prime minister.

Along with that, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who doesn’t hold any national positions in Umno, was also elevated to senior minister, and will take over the security cluster from Ismail.

But is this a compromise reached between Muhyiddin and Umno or is this a one-sided action?

The promotions come just hours before the Umno Supreme Council is supposed to meet tonight to decide whether it will withdraw its support for the government and Muhyiddin.

Hishammuddin and Ismail have responded by thanking Muhyiddin although, a day earlier, Umno Youth chief Aysraf Wajdi Dusuki said on Facebook that his party has already decided to reject any offers for a deputy prime minister’s post from PN.

So, was the deputy prime minister’s post given to Umno, or to the individuals?

Also, how will this play out when the Umno Supreme Council meets tonight?

Here’s a timeline of the acrimony between Umno and Bersatu since 2020:

March 13, 2020: Unhappy with the cabinet appointments, Umno makes six demands of the PN government. This comes after several Umno MPs, including Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Azalina Othman Said said on social media that Umno deserved a fairer deal.

The Muhyiddin cabinet did away with a deputy prime minister, but raised four MPs as senior ministers – two from Bersatu with one each from Umno and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). Muhyiddin’s first cabinet also ensured that Bersatu had the lion’s share of the portfolios despite being the smallest party in PN.

September 23, 2020: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says Umno MPs are free to support Anwar Ibrahim if they want after Anwar told reporters that Muhyiddin’s government had fallen.

January 9, 2021: Umno’s Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub withdraws support for Muhyiddin.

January 12: Umno’s Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz withdraws support for Muhyiddin leaving the latter with just 109 MPs in the 222-MP Dewan Rakyat. However, on July 2, Nazri re-pledged his support to Muhyiddin after claiming he was lied to by Zahid.

February 23: Umno says it will hold the 2020 Umno general assembly on March 27-28 to decide the fate of Umno-Bersatu ties in GE15.

March 28: Zahid tells Umno general assembly that Umno will not cooperate with Anwar, DAP and Bersatu. The assembly ends by giving a mandate to Umno Supreme Council to decide on when to quit the government. Says that Umno cannot work with Bersatu any more after the latter “betrayed” Umno during the Sabah state elections in 2020.

March 28: Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan suggests Umno should leave PN in August after the emergency order expires on August 1.

June 23: Nazri admits to collecting 25 statutory declarations from party MPs to support Hishammuddin and disassociate themselves from Zahid.

June 23: Ismail says BN lawmakers will not support a no-confidence vote against Muhyiddin.

June 30: Muhyiddin is hospitalised.

July 7: Muhyiddin announces two promotions. – July 7, 2021.