UMNO will not be referred to the Barisan Nasional (BN) disciplinary committee for pulling support from Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, sources within Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) said.

They told The Malaysian Insight that parties of the BN coalition have no intention of doing so at the moment, as this move will only intensify the chaos within BN.

An MCA source said Umno is still an ally and the current situation is merely a case of disagreement among members of the Malay party that they will have to resolve between themselves.

“Is the current situation not chaotic enough? MCA has not made any recommendations to refer Umno to the disciplinary committee,” the source, who is a high-level member of MCA, said.

MIC leaders who were approached by The Malaysian Insight also dismissed the rumour, saying that “there is no such thing”.

“All we want to know is, if BN withdraws support for the prime minister, what will happen next?” said a source from MIC, who did not want to be named.

“The pandemic has affected our lives and the daily death toll is high. We should focus on fighting the pandemic,” said the MIC source.

Talks of disciplinary action against Umno, the BN lynchpin party, emerged after the Umno Supreme Council said it was withdrawing support for Muhyiddin and the PN administration.

The party had ordered all its lawmakers to retract their support for the prime minister.

Whether Muhyiddin will stay in office is dependent on the confidence motion he will face in Parliament in September 2021.

To date, 15 Umno MPs have retracted their support for Muhyiddin. 

The 15 MPs are Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk), Najib Razak (Pekan), Ahmad Maslan (Pontian), Dr Shamsul Annuar Nasarah (Lenggong), Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (Baling), Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang), Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan), Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang), Mohd Nizar Zakaria (Parit), Ahmad Nazlan Idris (Jerantut), Ramli Mohd Nor (Cameron Highlands), Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis), Noh Omar (Tg Karang), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Gua Musang), and Dr Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong).

Meanwhile, Shamsul also quit Muhyiddin’s cabinet as Energy and Natural Resources Minister, while Noraini resigned as Higher Education Minister as well.

However, BN component leaders MCA president Dr Wee Ka Siong and MIC deputy president M. Saravanan publicly declared their support for Muhyiddin at a gathering of lawmakers last week led by Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail claimed that 31 MPs from BN, of which 21 were from Umno, were backing Muhyiddin.

Subsequently however, several Umno lawmakers – Tanjung Karang MP Noh Omar, Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, and Parit MP Mohd Nizar Zakaria – clarified that they were merely present to attend the meeting, and will abide by the Umno Supreme Council’s decision to withdraw support for the PN government.

Wee, who is Ayer Hitam MP, said MCA remains steadfast with the decision taken by BN last year to support PN until the 15th general election.

“So, as long as that decision remains, along with our friends in BN, we are called to stick by it… we put the people first, we manage Covid-19 matters and the people will decide in the general election,” Wee said.

Tapah MP and MIC deputy president Saravanan said his party is on the same page with MCA, adding that all decisions should be made at BN’s highest administrative level, since MIC had contested the 14th general election under the BN ticket.

“All decisions must be made at the BN level. So, until any (other decisions are made), we will continue our support (for the PN government).

“There is no problem in following Umno, but (it) must be done at BN level. As an individual I can follow, but what do I tell MIC members?” the Human Resources Minister said.

The decision by MCA and MIC did not go down well with Umno, with former prime minister Najib Razak even calling MCA “ungrateful” and reminding the party of the support offered by Umno at the Tanjung Piai by-elections.

Opposition party DAP also dared MCA to sack Umno from the BN coalition for going against their mandate to stick with PN until the next general election.

Perak DAP publicity secretary Chong Zemin said his challenge to MCA was based on Wee’s pledge to support PN as per the BN agreement. – August 11, 2021.