OPINION | Time to Exit Tan Sri: The Final Curtain Call for Muhyiddin
6 Dec 2025 • 12:00 PM MYT
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Mihar Dias
A behaviourist by training, a consultant and executive coach by profession
Image Credit: Daily Express
By Mihar Dias December 2025
There’s a line often attributed—incorrectly, but beautifully—to Oliver Cromwell: “In the name of God, go!” It was thundered at a Parliament that had overstayed its purpose.
https://www.olivercromwell.org/wordpress/by-oliver-cromwell/
Today, Sabah Bersatu is echoing that same sentiment toward one man who has overstayed his stage time: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Daily Express
Because the cruelty of life on stage is Shakespearean. But in politics? It’s pure Sabah 2025: swift, unforgiving, and with audiences who don’t clap politely—they change parties.
And now, the show is over.
The Handwriting Isn’t Just on the Wall — It’s in 20 Division Letters
Twenty out of 24 Sabah Bersatu divisions have come bearing a message, and they didn’t bother with metaphors, euphemisms, or polite Peninsular-style “kita bincang nanti.” They want Tan Sri to step aside. Not to rest. Not to “reflect.” To resign. Daily Express
And they’re doing it with the calmness of people who have pawned their personal belongings for a campaign that their national leadership couldn’t even be bothered to finance. Daily Express
When candidates are taking loans to contest an election, the problem isn’t the grassroots. It’s the general seated at the top of the hill wondering why the troops lost the battle he never supplied them for.
Sabah PN didn’t just lose badly. They lost with the sort of force that suggests not a strategic error, but a systemic failure—exactly what Yunus Nurdin called it.Daily Express
Muhyiddin Announced His Departure Before—But Love Conquered Logic
Let’s not forget: Tan Sri actually did announce his exit once. It was all settled. The man was ready to walk into the sunset, do a farewell tour, maybe write a book with a title like “How I Nearly Left: My Journey of Staying Against All Advice.”
But then, as lore goes, his wife persuaded him to stay.
This is sweet in a Korean drama.
It is catastrophic in political theatre.
Because now, after PN’s one lonely seat in Sabah—won not even by Bersatu but by PAS—there is no more drama left to milk. The ratings are in. The fans have spoken. The scriptwriters (Sabah divisions) have killed off the character for the next season.
Make a Respectable Exit Before You Are Pushed Off Stage
Tan Sri, there is dignity in leaving before the ushers come with long sticks to drag you into backstage darkness. There is honour in stepping aside before your own party leaders resign en bloc just to demonstrate how serious this is.
And there’s precedent. Plenty of leaders in Malaysian politics overstayed their welcome, only to discover that the longer you cling on, the smaller your legacy becomes.
Not all tragedies must end in tragedy.
A graceful exit can still be staged.
A farewell Congress.
A standing ovation choreographed for the cameras.
A well-lit podium.
A final speech about “new blood,” “party renewal,” and “continuity without me controlling everything.”
A handshake with the next generation (presumably Hamzah, who at this point looks like the only one Sabah hasn’t thrown under the bus).
Send him off with bunga telur. With kompang. With something memorable.
Because PN Can’t Rebuild With a Ghost Blocking the Door
Sabah leaders say they want autonomy. Clarity. Strategy. A leadership that doesn’t treat them as a distant province but as a core battleground. They want someone who knows that you don’t win state elections by giving last-minute directives or running campaigns on empty pockets and empty strategy.Daily Express
They want accountability.
They want change.
And frankly, Tan Sri, they want it without you standing in the doorway saying, “I know you’re angry, but let me try again.”
The play is over.
The curtain has fallen.
The critics have written their reviews.
And the audience is already leaving the theatre.
There is only one thing left to do, Tan Sri:
In the name of God, go — while you can still choose the manner of your exit.
Make it dignified.
Make it grand.
Make it yours.
Because if you don’t, Sabah Bersatu will make it for you — and theirs will not be the version you want in the history books.
Today, Sabah Bersatu is echoing that same sentiment toward one man who has overstayed his stage time: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Daily Express
Because the cruelty of life on stage is Shakespearean. But in politics? It’s pure Sabah 2025: swift, unforgiving, and with audiences who don’t clap politely—they change parties.
And now, the show is over.
The Handwriting Isn’t Just on the Wall — It’s in 20 Division Letters
Twenty out of 24 Sabah Bersatu divisions have come bearing a message, and they didn’t bother with metaphors, euphemisms, or polite Peninsular-style “kita bincang nanti.” They want Tan Sri to step aside. Not to rest. Not to “reflect.” To resign. Daily Express
And they’re doing it with the calmness of people who have pawned their personal belongings for a campaign that their national leadership couldn’t even be bothered to finance. Daily Express
When candidates are taking loans to contest an election, the problem isn’t the grassroots. It’s the general seated at the top of the hill wondering why the troops lost the battle he never supplied them for.
Sabah PN didn’t just lose badly. They lost with the sort of force that suggests not a strategic error, but a systemic failure—exactly what Yunus Nurdin called it.Daily Express
Muhyiddin Announced His Departure Before—But Love Conquered Logic
Let’s not forget: Tan Sri actually did announce his exit once. It was all settled. The man was ready to walk into the sunset, do a farewell tour, maybe write a book with a title like “How I Nearly Left: My Journey of Staying Against All Advice.”
But then, as lore goes, his wife persuaded him to stay.
This is sweet in a Korean drama.
It is catastrophic in political theatre.
Because now, after PN’s one lonely seat in Sabah—won not even by Bersatu but by PAS—there is no more drama left to milk. The ratings are in. The fans have spoken. The scriptwriters (Sabah divisions) have killed off the character for the next season.
Make a Respectable Exit Before You Are Pushed Off Stage
Tan Sri, there is dignity in leaving before the ushers come with long sticks to drag you into backstage darkness. There is honour in stepping aside before your own party leaders resign en bloc just to demonstrate how serious this is.
And there’s precedent. Plenty of leaders in Malaysian politics overstayed their welcome, only to discover that the longer you cling on, the smaller your legacy becomes.
Not all tragedies must end in tragedy.
A graceful exit can still be staged.
A farewell Congress.
A standing ovation choreographed for the cameras.
A well-lit podium.
A final speech about “new blood,” “party renewal,” and “continuity without me controlling everything.”
A handshake with the next generation (presumably Hamzah, who at this point looks like the only one Sabah hasn’t thrown under the bus).
Send him off with bunga telur. With kompang. With something memorable.
Because PN Can’t Rebuild With a Ghost Blocking the Door
Sabah leaders say they want autonomy. Clarity. Strategy. A leadership that doesn’t treat them as a distant province but as a core battleground. They want someone who knows that you don’t win state elections by giving last-minute directives or running campaigns on empty pockets and empty strategy.Daily Express
They want accountability.
They want change.
And frankly, Tan Sri, they want it without you standing in the doorway saying, “I know you’re angry, but let me try again.”
The play is over.
The curtain has fallen.
The critics have written their reviews.
And the audience is already leaving the theatre.
There is only one thing left to do, Tan Sri:
In the name of God, go — while you can still choose the manner of your exit.
Make it dignified.
Make it grand.
Make it yours.
Because if you don’t, Sabah Bersatu will make it for you — and theirs will not be the version you want in the history books.
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