OPINION | Why This May Be My Last Article on Muhyiddin
14 Mar 2026 • 6:30 PM MYT
TheRealNehruism
An award-winning Newswav creator, Bebas News columnist & ex-FMT columnist
Image credit: The True Net/Finance Twitter
Right after the Turun Anwar rally last July, I predicted that Muhyiddin Yassin would be toppled by the end of the year.
As a matter of fact, Muhyiddin did step down as the head of Perikatan Nasional on Jan 1.
Today he might still be the president of Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), but the man is effectively out.
How out is Muhyiddin?
He is so out that earlier today, when I saw a news report about him — and something in my spirit briefly moved me to write about it — upon forther deliberateion, I simply decided against it.
Why ?
Well, it is because I don’t see Muhyiddin as someone that I should be writing about anymore.
This might actually be my last article about him.
I don't think it is right for me to write about Muhyiddin anymore, because I only write about politicians who are still in the game.
I do not think it is unfair for me to comment on a politician who is in the game — even if my comments are harsh or cutting — any more than a commentator in an MMA or boxing fight feels guilty about critiquing a fighter in the ring.
Politics is a competitive field. Save for war, it might be the most competitive field known to mankind.
In fact, considering that Carl von Clausewitz famously argued that war is merely the continuation of politics by other means, politics might very well be the most competitive arena known to man.
There is no higher victory than victory in politics.
And when you lose, often there is no greater loss.
When you win in politics, your name might be remembered for generations to come. The world that emerges in the future may very well be shaped in your image.
But if you lose in politics, you may be reviled for generations.
Most of the figures whom history remembers as villains are simply those who lost in the game of politics. Conversely, even the most monstrous of men are often remembered admiringly by history if they won the political struggle.
Muhyiddin, to me, is a man who has lost decisively in the game of politics.
What do I mean by decisively ?
I mean that not only has Muhyiddin lost, he has lost with such strength, that the chances that he will be able to bounce back from his loss is next to nil.
Does this mean I believe he will be reviled by generations to come?
No.
I don’t think Muhyiddin will suffer that fate simply because he may not have made a sufficiently deep mark in history to be remembered that way.
Someone like Mahathir Mohamad might face that kind of historical judgment.
Muhyiddin, I suspect, will not.
So what will happen to Muhyiddin?
Well, I think he will simply fade into oblivion.
In fact, I think that it is already happening.
That is why when I saw a news report about him earlier, although something briefly moved my heart to write about it, instead of writing about it, as I normally would, something inside me simply told me to simply let it pass.
It is one thing to write commentary about politicians who are actively competing in the arena, even if the commentary is harsh and stinging. Winners should be put through the crucible of criticism, just like gold should be put through the test of fire. A winner that can take criticism is like gold that can't take the heat - it is not real gold, even if it glitters.
But it is another thing entirely to write about old men who are no longer in the game, yet cannot take off their boots because they cannot accept that they are no longer a factor.
To do the former is to do a job.
To do the latter is simply mean.
If you ask what the news about Muhyiddin was that moved me to write about him, I will just say that it doesn’t matter — because Muhyiddin doesn’t matter anymore.
For years — even before last July’s Turun Anwar rally — I had said that if Muhyiddin continued going about politics the way he was going about it, he would eventually be set adrift in the sea of oblivion.
Last July, seeing how stubbornly he persisted on that path, I predicted that he would be out by the end of the year.
I even predicted that Hamzah Zainudin would be the one to take him to the cleaners.
Considering that everything I predicted about Muhyiddin has come to pass, this is my final prediction about him — perhaps my last prediction about him.
Muhyiddin is now drowning in the sea of oblivion.
Right now we can still see him making a small splash as his head bobs in and out of the water.
But soon even that will pass.
After that, Muhyiddin will disappear from our minds as quickly as he disappears from our sight.
If this is not the last article I write about Muhyiddin, it will certainly be one of the last.
And even if I do write about him again, it will probably not be about politics. It will likely be written in a more gentle and fond tone.
Why ?
Because in my mind, Muhyiddin belongs to the past, and I believe that the proper way to remember something that belongs more to the past than to the present or the future, is to remember it gently and fondly.
Right after the Turun Anwar rally last July, I predicted that Muhyiddin Yassin would be toppled by the end of the year.
As a matter of fact, Muhyiddin did step down as the head of Perikatan Nasional on Jan 1.
Today he might still be the president of Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), but the man is effectively out.
How out is Muhyiddin?
He is so out that earlier today, when I saw a news report about him — and something in my spirit briefly moved me to write about it — upon forther deliberateion, I simply decided against it.
Why ?
Well, it is because I don’t see Muhyiddin as someone that I should be writing about anymore.
This might actually be my last article about him.
I don't think it is right for me to write about Muhyiddin anymore, because I only write about politicians who are still in the game.
I do not think it is unfair for me to comment on a politician who is in the game — even if my comments are harsh or cutting — any more than a commentator in an MMA or boxing fight feels guilty about critiquing a fighter in the ring.
Politics is a competitive field. Save for war, it might be the most competitive field known to mankind.
In fact, considering that Carl von Clausewitz famously argued that war is merely the continuation of politics by other means, politics might very well be the most competitive arena known to man.
There is no higher victory than victory in politics.
And when you lose, often there is no greater loss.
When you win in politics, your name might be remembered for generations to come. The world that emerges in the future may very well be shaped in your image.
But if you lose in politics, you may be reviled for generations.
Most of the figures whom history remembers as villains are simply those who lost in the game of politics. Conversely, even the most monstrous of men are often remembered admiringly by history if they won the political struggle.
Muhyiddin, to me, is a man who has lost decisively in the game of politics.
What do I mean by decisively ?
I mean that not only has Muhyiddin lost, he has lost with such strength, that the chances that he will be able to bounce back from his loss is next to nil.
Does this mean I believe he will be reviled by generations to come?
No.
I don’t think Muhyiddin will suffer that fate simply because he may not have made a sufficiently deep mark in history to be remembered that way.
Someone like Mahathir Mohamad might face that kind of historical judgment.
Muhyiddin, I suspect, will not.
So what will happen to Muhyiddin?
Well, I think he will simply fade into oblivion.
In fact, I think that it is already happening.
That is why when I saw a news report about him earlier, although something briefly moved my heart to write about it, instead of writing about it, as I normally would, something inside me simply told me to simply let it pass.
It is one thing to write commentary about politicians who are actively competing in the arena, even if the commentary is harsh and stinging. Winners should be put through the crucible of criticism, just like gold should be put through the test of fire. A winner that can take criticism is like gold that can't take the heat - it is not real gold, even if it glitters.
But it is another thing entirely to write about old men who are no longer in the game, yet cannot take off their boots because they cannot accept that they are no longer a factor.
To do the former is to do a job.
To do the latter is simply mean.
If you ask what the news about Muhyiddin was that moved me to write about him, I will just say that it doesn’t matter — because Muhyiddin doesn’t matter anymore.
For years — even before last July’s Turun Anwar rally — I had said that if Muhyiddin continued going about politics the way he was going about it, he would eventually be set adrift in the sea of oblivion.
Last July, seeing how stubbornly he persisted on that path, I predicted that he would be out by the end of the year.
I even predicted that Hamzah Zainudin would be the one to take him to the cleaners.
Considering that everything I predicted about Muhyiddin has come to pass, this is my final prediction about him — perhaps my last prediction about him.
Muhyiddin is now drowning in the sea of oblivion.
Right now we can still see him making a small splash as his head bobs in and out of the water.
But soon even that will pass.
After that, Muhyiddin will disappear from our minds as quickly as he disappears from our sight.
If this is not the last article I write about Muhyiddin, it will certainly be one of the last.
And even if I do write about him again, it will probably not be about politics. It will likely be written in a more gentle and fond tone.
Why ?
Because in my mind, Muhyiddin belongs to the past, and I believe that the proper way to remember something that belongs more to the past than to the present or the future, is to remember it gently and fondly.
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