His behaviour, peaking in the notorious 1MDB scandal , involved his channelling about US$700 million of missing state funds to his own bank accounts.
UMNO WEAKENED AFTER 2018 POLITICAL ELECTION
It was following the UMNO-led government’s displacement by an resistance coalition, Pakatan Tumpuan, that the linkages among party elections, general elections and judicial proceedings began to unravel. In Feb 2020, through parliamentary manoeuvring and monarchical interventions , UMNO discovered its way back into power, though included in a shaky four-way coalition.
Of such parties, UMNO still held the most parliamentary seats. But destabilized by electoral beat and the court instances mounted against Najib over 1MDB, UMNO yielded the prime ministership to Muhyiddin Yassin , the leader of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), UMNO’s nominal friend at the time.
In its reduced circumstances, UMNO grew factionalised. A single group, labelled the “old guard”, required that UMNO split from Bersatu to reassert its single-party dominance. Another unit called for ongoing power-sharing.
UMNO’s older guard centred upon Najib who, despite being ensnared in court cases, used his charisma to rekindle his popularity in the Malay-Muslim community . By appealing to the particular loyalties of UMNO’s parliamentarians and high-level supporters – progressively forgetful of 1MDB – the old safeguard succeeded in ousting Muhyiddin.
But with their image still blighted by courtroom cases, the old guard was unable to lay down claim to the prime ministership. In August 2021, they acquiesced in Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s increase to the position , despite him heading the faction that will embraced Bersatu and only holding a vice-presidency position in UMNO.
This ruptured the long-standing alignment between the top celebration and government offices. Accordingly, Ismail offers often been dismissed as an “accidental prime minister”, destined to become shunted aside by the old guard when it is ever fully rehabilitated.