UMNO is in an unprecedented situation as Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob continues to grapple with his underperforming ministers, party vice-president Khaled Nordin said.

He said while the prime minister is from Umno, the party does not control the government. 

“When the call is made for the prime minister to reshuffle the cabinet, I am very sympathetic towards him,” the former Johor menteri besar said in a Facebook post today.

“Who else can he appoint to replace his failed cabinet members? He does not have many options from the existing MPs.”  

On Tuesday, Ismail said there would be no cabinet reshuffle for now as the government was focusing on the more pressing issues affecting the people, including Covid-19 and the recent floods.

“Yes, people are talking, names are being mentioned, it is normal. I have said it before, my focus is now on the floods, so I don’t want to talk about whether or not there will be a cabinet reshuffle. I didn’t announce any, so there’s none,” said the prime minister.

Khaled said the public also knows that Ismail has inherited the cabinet from the fallen Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. 

“Almost all the contributors of the failed PN government continue to be in the Ismail Sabri government,” he said. 

“Who to get rid of and who to replace is very much subject to the support of their respective parties. 

“Blaming the prime minister for the significant weaknesses of the current government is very easy. 

“But if we were in his position, maybe we would also have a hard time doing what we were supposed to do.” 

He said the prime minister does not understand that the people’s confidence in his government is declining drastically. 

“But his position of being heavily dependent on small parties in the government is very difficult for him,” he said.

“The one that gets hit is Umno. Because of every weakness of the government, Umno will be at the receiving end of the people’s anger. 

“But Umno also cannot just leave the prime minister. He is the representative of Umno and he should be the voice of Umno. If he fails, then Umno fails. The prime minister must understand this.” 

Khaled said Umno cannot allow this to continue. “Because we do not want the people’s hatred of PH (Pakatan Harapan) and PN before, to bring down Keluarga Malaysia. 

“The party is working hard to find a strategy for this crisis. But for now, this Umno dilemma will continue.” – January 8, 2022.