When Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin became Prime Minister on February 29 last year, many of Malaysia’s detractors felt that the Johorean would find it hard to fit into the shoes of his predecessor.
After all it was not going to be easy emulating Malaysia’s most experienced 95-year-old Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is old enough to be his father.
But having served as a politician for 25 years and under three premiers — Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and as deputy prime minister to Dr Mahathir — he was no rookie.
Unlike many politicians who were either hand-picked by their predecessors or own relatives, he started from the bottom of the ladder.
Born in Muar, Johor on March 15 1947, Muhyiddin joined the state’s public service after graduating from University Malaya (UM) with an economics and Malays studies honours degree.
In 1978, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Pagoh and was soon appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.
From there he rose to become deputy minister of federal territories and deputy minister of trade and industry.
In 1986, he became Johor’s Menteri Besar for 10 years and was widely popular as a fair man with all racial groups.
He returned to federal politics in 1995 and was appointed Minister of Youth and Sports before becoming Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
Muhyiddin became vice president of Umno in 2000 and served as Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry from 2004 to 2008, and then as Minister of International Trade and Industry from 2008 to 2009.
In 2008, he contested and won the Umno deputy presidency and was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education under Prime Minister Najib Razak a year later.
As Education Minister, he terminated the use of English as the medium of instruction for science and mathematics in public schools.
For reasons best known to himself, Najib dropped Muhyiddin from the cabinet in July 2015 and a year later, he was expelled from Umno.
In 2016, he founded Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and joined forces with the Anwar Ibrahim Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and DAP to prepare for the 2018 general election.
He then gave way to Dr Mahathir to lead Bersatu only to see the PH coalition lasted for 22 months.
It was no fault of Muhyiddin that Dr Mahathir decided to leave the PH bloc because of the constant bickering among people with a history of perennial quarrels.
Even before the newly elected government could settle, the struggle for power had started where daggers were drawn.
Within PKR the voices of dissention and a clash of personalities confused not only the party but also the public.
It was all over who would become Prime Minister after or if he left office. Die-hard supporters insisted that Anwar, whom Dr Mahathir had promised the job, should be premier sooner than later.
Even before they could settle the leadership issue, an ambitious Datuk Seri Azmin Ali made his move because he too was a contender for the post.
As such, little or nothing was done to chart a new beginning for the country. With new blood and faces and tremendous potential, Malaysia continued with its flagging economy leading to the Ringgit’s drop and rising debt.
Adding to the problem, Sarawak’s Christian leader Baru Bian who headed the state PKR and who has never liked Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, indicated he was going to leave the coalition.
And true to prediction, in November last year, Baru left PKR.
All this could have triggered off Dr Mahathir’s frustration in failing to unite the country once and for all, before he resigned and left Malaysia without a legitimate government.
But while this was happening, Muhyiddin must have realised that every man was for himself!
Simply put, it was a case of self and vested interests and inflated egos.
It took a man of courage and conviction to make the painful decision to abandon his mentor and friend Dr Mahathir to form Perikatan Nasional (PN) on March 1 — days after the prime minister stepped down.
Muhyiddin knew well that his coterie parties with different ideologies which he cobbled together, but at least he had a political vehicle.
He brought up his case to the country’s highest authority — the King, who in his wisdom sanctioned the new government coalition.
Muhyiddin took in his former foes, Umno and PAS, and knowing that he was short of seats, turned to Malaysia’s perennial whipping boy Sarawak.
It was the brave GPS government of Sarawak led by the able Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who came to the country’s rescue.
As Abang Johari has repeatedly stated, it was the call of duty that led to GPS’ Members of Parliament to join Muhyiddin and for a legitimate government.
Muhyiddin is visiting Sarawak tomorrow to say “Thank you” to Sarawak.
Let us give him a rousing welcome because we are all in the same Malaysia’s big ship and we either sink and swim or sail together.
Sarawak has become a game changer — a country whose people were treated like tribals not too long ago, can now call the shots!
To say we became beggars because we supported Muhyiddin is an understatement — thanks to the prime minister, our coffers have grown and Sarawakians can walk tall!
