Ismail, who became prime minister in August 2021, said he is confident that Umno and its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, will honour the resolutions taken by the party’s Supreme Council and divisional delegates to support his candidacy.
Speculation suggests that ties between Ismail and Zahid have soured over the timing of the elections and Umno’s candidate lists.
Both men have denied the conjecture, and Zahid has made public assurances that Ismail would be the party’s prime minister candidate. Despite this, political observers opine that the matter will be taken up once again should Umno win a majority to form the next government.
Ismail sees another reality. “I think everyone in Umno is bound by decisions made by the party’s Supreme Council and general assembly,” the 62-year-old said. “I was endorsed as the prime minister candidate in both.”
He added that although the winning party nominates the prime ministerial candidate, the King will make the final decision based on the federal constitution.
“So we cannot undermine the intelligence of the King, too, in determining his prime minister,” Ismail said, referring to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Zahid, who calls the shots in Umno while Ismail is the party’s vice-president, recently dropped five federal ministers as candidates in the upcoming elections. The five were vocal supporters of Ismail in the Cabinet and Umno, and sometimes went against the party president.
The move is seen as Zahid consolidating power within the party and against Ismail.
When asked about this, the prime minister said: “Of course, I’m sad that my friends, who are all winnable candidates, did not make the cut. But again, the party has decided, and we must abide by that.”
Malaysians later this month will determine which party will be handed a fresh five-year mandate to govern the country. The elections are expected to calm the political instability that has rocked the country since the last elections in 2018. Since that year, Malaysia has had three prime ministers.
Political parties will scramble to win the 222 federal seats being contested, with a party or coalition needing 112 to form a government.
Umno, the country’s largest and oldest political organisation, was behind the collapse of two previous governments led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin.
The party has a history of corruption, most notably the recent 1MDB scandal and its related criminal charges, which implicated now-imprisoned former prime minister Najib Razak.
Unlike in 2018, Ismail said neither the 1MDB scandal nor the goods and services tax (GST) will play a significant role in this election, declaring the issues to be resolved. He added that with the imprisonment of Najib, voters feel there is closure to the 1MDB scandal and that Umno’s opponents cannot gain a political advantage by bringing it up.
The Barisan Nasional government, then led by Najib, introduced the GST to replace the colonial sales and services tax. The opposition used the broad-based tax while campaigning, blaming it for increases in food prices and the cost of living.
“They (other parties) will not find any issues with my administration or me because our gross domestic product growth for the second quarter was the highest in Asean, and inflation is far below (that of) developed economies,” Ismail said.
He also gave assurances that Umno will not form a post-election coalition with Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH), as suggested by several politicians, including senior statesman Mahathir.
Mahathir, 97, has alleged that Umno would work with Anwar and make the latter prime minister due to his long-standing friendship with Zahid. Mahathir expects no political parties to win a simple majority, a result that would necessitate a coalition.
“Anyone who tries to make Umno and Pakatan Harapan work together,” Ismail said, “let me warn you that Umno will retaliate”.
The prime minister said the party’s general assembly had passed resolutions declaring Umno would not work with Anwar and DAP, a PH component.