Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Awang Azman Pawi said this included those holding ministerial positions and even heads of GLCs.

“If they fail to comply, it means that they are breaching the mandate of the Umno general assembly delegates and that of the Supreme Council.

“This will surely lead to disciplinary action, including immediate sackings, should they continue to defy the party’s orders,” he told FMT, adding that many were expected to fall in line with the party’s decision.

Awang Azman added that those who decide to continue backing Muhyiddin as prime minister were expected to leave the party and join Bersatu.

“However, this is only expected to involve MPs, not grassroots members and it won’t lead to the dissolving of branches or divisions,” he said.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi made the major announcement late last night following a Supreme Council meeting that went on for over four hours.

The decision also came mere hours after Muhyiddin had appointed Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob as deputy prime minister and Barisan Nasional treasurer-general Hishammuddin Hussein as senior minister for security.

In his late-night press conference, Zahid did not mention the deputy prime minister’s post offered to Ismail, probably leaving it to the Umno vice-president to state his stand.

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said while the Perikatan Nasional-led government had officially lost its parliamentary majority, Zahid gave no clear direction about Umno’s next step.

Zahid’s guarantee to not back PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister or to cooperate with DAP, also raised questions on how the next government would be formed and who would helm it.

“Umno and PKR alone aren’t sufficient to form a government, so DAP is still needed.

“The King has to now appoint a prime minister who in the King’s view is likely to command a parliamentary majority,” Oh told FMT.

When asked who could then take over as prime minister from Muhyiddin if not Anwar, who was widely rumoured to be backed by Zahid, Oh said Dr Mahathir Mohamad could very well be prime minister again.

He said Umno would “certainly” be willing to work with the former long-time president as he was “their old boss”.

He added that it was unlikely for Zahid to become prime minister as he was not known for his competence, while Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was also not fit for the position.

But Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s (UMS) Lee Kuok Tiung said appointing a new prime minister would not necessarily fix the current situation unless the new government could come up with a better plan.

“I strongly believe that the situation in Malaysia is bad, but it could have been worse if the measures that were carried out had not been taken,” he told FMT.

Meanwhile, Universiti Utara Malaysia’s (UUM) Kamarul Zaman Yusoff said the government’s fate cannot yet be determined as Zahid did not provide details on how the decision was reached and whether all MPs were on board.

“Until the majority of Umno MPs sign statutory declarations saying they no longer support Muhyiddin, we cannot assume that he has lost majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.”

Kamarul, however, said the best way to determine if Muhyiddin had the confidence of the majority would be through a vote in Parliament.