How UMNO is undermining the ‘unity government’

Murray Hunter


How UMNO is undermining the ‘unity government’


Jul 11, 2025





As prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is dealing with an internal PKR mutiny, all attention is being drawn away from UMNO, whose leader is sitting silent on the sidelines.

Going back to the 2022 general election, the main issue was the corruption of the then UMNO led government, in particular UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Zahid just hung onto his Bagan Datok seat with a majority of 348 votes, which he had held since 1995. Many expected the UMNO membership to turn on Zahid after UMNO’s dismal performance. However, Zahid assisted PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim stich together a government with the blessing of the former YDPA Sultan Abullah.

When the ‘unity government’ was formed in the first week of December 2022, many supporters of PKR and the DAP felt betrayed. Pakatan Harapan had done a ‘deal with the devil’. It got worse. Anwar appointed Zahid as deputy prime minister with the weight of 47 criminal charges hanging around his head.

This immediately tarnished Anwar’s reputation, This has stuck with him, where he is now seen as grossly unpopular.


UMNO party unrest

From the get-go there has been unrest within UMNO. Zahid had just completed a purge of his major adversaries (losing Perlis in the process). An influential section within the membership wanted a pardon for their former leader Najib Razak. Zahid also wanted to be released from his legal case, as did a long list after him.

Within three months into Anwar’s term of office, a Pardons Board meeting halved Najib Razak’s 12 year sentence down to 6 years, and lowered his fine from RM 210 million to RM 55 million. This brought anger and dismay to Anwar’s followers, leading to heavy public criticism from some of his loyal followers.

This was not all, the issue of an addendum signed just before the former YDPA left office, granting Najib house arrest persisted a whole year, with Anwar and his ministers trying to suppress the issue. This issue is still playing out in the court today. This has cost Anwar popularity, even though his home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had tried to keep the addendum unexecuted.

Zahid’s own acquittal through a DNAA of 47 criminal charges in September 2023 brought further rage and unpopularity to the government. The problem is all anger went towards Anwar and not UMNO.

The remains to this day a strong perception by non-Malay voters that Anwar had pandered to the corrupt within UMNO.


Race politics

Anwar’s administration has become tainted with hate-based race politics through minions of UMNO. Mihamad Akmal Saleh, a Melaka based state assembly person is infamously known for his attacks upon KK Supermart over socks that had the insignia of God, thus construed to insult Islam. Akmal has spoken up on other issues since, leading to perceptions that the ‘Madani Government’ plays racial politics. The net effect of this has been negative on Anwar as prime minister.


MCMC – making PKR unpopular

The MCMC had governed the internet for Malaysian since the early 2000s without becoming controversial. Now the MCMC has become an UMNO satellite and the commission’s overzealous use of power unnecessarily harassing Malaysians is backfiring on Anwar. The MCMC no doubt is making Anwar more unpopular by the day, and this has remained unchecked. The MCMC could be one of the major factors that lead to the loss of PKR seats in the next general elections.

UMNO has been well rewarded with seats for UMNO stalwarts in agencies and GLCs still playing the old patriarchal politics. UMNO has 6 ministers, a deputy prime minister, all with just 26 seats in parliament.

The eyes of UMNO leaders are on the coming general elections. UMNO strategists know they will benefit more than PKR electorally. Those who support Pakatan Harapan are more likely to vote for UMNO candidates, than UMNO supporters vote for PH. UMNO only has to win more seats than PKR to make a valid claim for the prime minister’s position in a future government after the coming general election.

UMNO has undermined PKR most (DAP has won most of its seats in parliament with massive margins). UMNO will leave PKR behind after the election and won’t be as kind as Anwar was to UMNO.

UMNO is the enemy within for Anwar and the ‘unity government’. UMNO is actually PKR’s greatest adversary, just as it was in 2022.