The Malaysian Insight

INTERNAL manoeuvrings within Umno’s state leaders have led to the collapse of its own government in Malacca, said several sources.

The collapse was also something that Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali had already seen coming several months earlier.

Sensing that his government was shaky, Sulaiman had approached Pakatan Harapan (PH) as early as July to broker a confidence-and-supply agreement (CSA), a senior PH  leader told The Malaysian Insight. 

“Sulaiman came to us even before Ismail Sabri Yaakob was appointed prime minister in August,” the source said.

“He wanted to give his government some stability as there were already signs that certain Umno assemblymen were against him.”

However, shortly after Ismail Sabri was appointed prime minister, Sulaiman stopped the CSA talks, said the source.

“He probably thought that everything was safe as Ismail had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pakatan Harapan to shore up his government at the federal level,” said the source.

“But nothing is safe anymore as there is still a lot of power struggle at the state level. What happens at the national level will not necessarily flow down to the state level,” said the source.

After several days of speculation, four assemblymen announced today that they had lost confidence in Sulaiman. The four are former chief minister Idris Haron (Sg Udang-BN) Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor-BN), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas-Bersatu) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu-independent). 

Following the withdrawal of support, Sulaiman is now supported by 13  assemblymen only (BN – 12 and Bersatu – 1) while the opposition has 15 (PH – 11, BN – 2, Bersatu – 1 and independent – 1). There are 28 seats in the Malacca legislative assembly. 

Another source confirmed with The Malaysian Insight what has transpired was an Umno internal struggle as Idris had been at odds with Sulaiman and Malacca speaker Ab Rauf Yusoh after party reclaimed the state from PH last year.

Despite being the former chief minister, Sulaiman was picked ahead of Idris.

The source said that things were made worse when rumours made the rounds that Malacca Umno liaison chief Rauf would drop Idris in the 15^th general election after the latter lost the Tangga Batu division elections in 2018.

“As such, it became a do-or-die mission for Idris,” said the source.

This is the second time since GE14 that Umno and PH worked together to topple a state leader. 

Last December, Umno assemblymen worked with PH lawmakers in Perak to topple then menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu during a confidence vote. – October 5, 2021.