What lies ahead for Shafie and Muhyiddin?
Both ex-Umno men are pushing for change, one from a multiracial platform and the other from a Bumiputera stage.
Shafie Apdal raised eyebrows last Thursday with the announcement that he would be “taking over” a multiracial political party based in Sabah.
While the identity of the party remains a mystery, it is clear that it aims to follow in the footsteps of Berjaya and PBS, two multiracial parties that went on to administer Sabah on separate occasions.
Shafie, a former Umno vice-president, will be stepping out of his comfort zone with his new party, and while Sabahans have proven in the past that they can accept a multiracial party, there will be doubts as to whether he is a changed man.
Nevertheless, the party, which will obviously ride on the Sabah for Sabahans sentiment, is bound to make waves and it will be a most interesting time for politics in Sabah, where the BN has not felt threatened in years, save in the Chinese-dominated urban and some Kadazan Dusun Murut areas.
Meanwhile, on the peninsula, Muhyiddin Yassin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia has not quite lived up to its hype. Many questions are still being asked about the party’s direction and how it will work with opposition parties.
Pakatan Harapan is already a hodgepodge of ideologies and then the new party’s (PPBM) Bumiputera-only membership runs contrary to DAP’s and PKR’s multiracial platform.
In his past political life, Muhyiddin was unpopular with opposition supporters, lambasted for his Malay-first stance and criticised for his performance as Education Minister. After being sacked from Umno, he has tried to reinvent himself as a warrior fighting for the rights of all, though these rights do not include the right of equal membership in his party.
It is hard to fault those who feel that Muhyiddin is not committed to creating anything other than a party built in Umno’s image.
It will be interesting to see where the two ex-Umno leaders will go from here.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram
Will Muhyiddin’s going back to what he knows best pay off and will the road less travelled take Shafie to new heights?