AHEAD of a confidence vote for the prime minister, there are 23 Umno MPs for Muhyiddin Yassin and 15, against.

In a three-part series, The Malaysian Insight looks at some of the constituencies of the 23 who are sticking with the embattled prime minister, whose ratings have plunged over the Perikatan Nasional government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and economy.

Most of the 23 hold a post in government, or at least a government-linked entity, and that their appointments were made by Muhyiddin after PN took over Putrajaya from Pakatan Harapan last year.

All 23 seats are Malay majority constituencies, and it will be interesting to see if these MPs can defend their seats in the next election after breaking ranks with the party’s decision to pull support for Muhyiddin and PN.

Muhyiddin yesterday offered an olive branch to the opposition promising them a slew of reforms if they voted for him in next month’s confidence vote in Parliament. The offer, however, was soundly rejected by the Opposition who described it a desperate move by the prime minister to cling on to power.

In this first part, The Malaysian Insight takes a look at some of the 23 Umno MPs who are said to be backing Muhyiddin, according to Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also the deputy prime minister.

Pahang has biggest contingent 

As testament to Ismail Sabri’s influence, Pahang has the largest number of Umno MPs backing Muhyiddin.

According to the Bera MP, six out of nine Umno MPs in the state support the PN chairman.

Besides Ismail Sabri, the other five are first term MP Shahar Abdullah (Paya Besar), second term MPs Abdul Rahman Muhamad (Lipis) and Hasan Ariffin (Rompin), and fourth term MPs Ismail Mutalib (Maran) and Ismail Said (Kuala Krau).

Ismail is also a fourth-term MP.

In terms of the government posts they hold, Shahar is deputy finance minister, Rahman is deputy rural and regional development minister, Ismail Mutalib is deputy housing and local government minister, and Ismail Said is deputy home minister.

The Pahang MPs who are not supporting Muhyiddin are former prime minister Najib Razak (Pekan), Ahmad Nazlan Idris (Jerantut) and Ramli Mohd Nor (Cameron Highlands).

Perak has three Umno MPs supporting Muhyiddin. Three more are originally from Umno but are now in Bersatu, which Muhyiddin heads.

Umno’s three are Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz (Padang Rengas), Mastura Mohd Yazid (Kuala Kangsar) and Tajuddin Abdul Rahman(Pasir Salak).

Mastura is a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, while Tajuddin was Prasarana chairman until his removal in May over a mishandled press conference and other gaffes.

The three defectors who won their seats on an Umno ticket but jumped to Bersatu after the 2018 general election are Noor Azmi Ghazali (Bagan Serai) followed by Hamzah Zainuddin (Larut) and Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang).

Hamzah is the home minister, Noor Azmi is deputy health minister while Syed Abu Hussin is the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia chairman.

Umno’s birth state, Johor, has three Umno MPs backing the Bersatu president, and all of them hold government positions.

Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong) is senior minister in charge of foreign affairs, Dr Adham Baba (Tenggara) is health minister and Halimah Mohamed Sadique (Kota Tinggi) is national unity minister.

Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Mersing), won his seat in 2018 as an Umno candidate but defected to Bersatu in 2019.

Clean sweep in Perlis and Negri Sembilan

it is interesting to note that Muhyiddin has made a clean sweep in Perlis and Negri Sembilan.

Umno, which won two out of three parliament seats in Perlis, three out of eight in Negeri Sembilan, all backed Muhyiddin as prime minister.

The Perlis team consists of fourth term MP Shahidan Kassim (Arau), who is one of Muhyiddin’s most vocal supporter in Parliament, and Zahidi Zainul Abidin (Padang Besar), who is deputy communications and multimedia minister.

Shahidan is also chairman of Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia.

In Negri Sembilan, despite Umno here being under party deputy president Mohamad Hasan, all the party’s three MPs are for Muhyiddin. They are Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau), Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu) and Salim Sharif (Jempol).

Only Khairy has a government position. He is science, technology and innovation minister and he also heads the national Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Up north, Umno has only two MPs who are against Muhyiddin: Umno advisory committee chairman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Gua Musang) and Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang).

Muhyiddin has in his bag the remaining Umno MP, Annuar Musa (Ketereh), who is also Federal Territories minister and one of Muhyiddin’s strongest defenders.

Two original Umno MPs – Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli) and Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Tanah Merah) – have already defected to Bersatu.

Mustapa is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department while Ikmal is deputy defence minister.

All but four of the 23 Umno MPs who support Muhyiddin represent seats that have a Malay majority electorate of more than 70%.

The four seats that are only slightly above the Malay majority margin of 60% are Sembrong (61%), Bera (62%), Jempol (64%) and Jelebu (65%).

The highest concentration of Malay voters are in Besut (98%) followed by Ketereh (97%) and Putrajaya (95%).

The biggest number of registered voters are found in Rembau (88,935), followed by Besut (86,627) and (73,432). The seat with the smallest voter base is Putrajaya (27,306).

In the second part, The Malaysian Insight will look at the prospects of the incumbents retaining their seats in the next elections. – August 14, 2021.