“Muhyiddin betrayed me” – Tun M

The circumstances of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s appointment as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia has been controversial in the past week.

The graph above shows the news exposure of individuals who were trending in the mainstream media during the political crisis.

Mahathir’s sudden resignation on February 24 put him in the media spotlight, hitting almost 500 news.

On this day, it is observed that Azmin Ali and Muhyiddin Yassin also experienced a sudden increase in the number of news. Azmin and Zuraida were sacked from PKR while Muhyiddin announced that Bersatu is officially out of Pakatan Harapan (PH)

Shortly after, Mahathir also announced his resignation as the Chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

Mahathir’s sudden resignation has completely turned Malaysian politics upside down with the return of familiar faces who were once dubbed as the ‘kleptocrats’.

Muhyiddin who has maintained loyalty towards Mahathir was seen to go against the latter when he joined forces with UMNO and PAS, which later led to the former’s appointment as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Previously, Mahathir had said that he does not want to work with UMNO.

It is believed that Mahathir’s rejection to work with his former party led to Muhyiddin leading Bersatu to join the Muafakat Nasional pact.

Mahathir also had said that the Pagoh MP has a more “relaxed stance” towards UMNO.

On February 29, a new coalition was born, known as ‘Perikatan Nasional’ which consists of Bersatu, UMNO, PAS and Azmin’s bloc. Many labelled the coalition as a ‘backdoor government’.

Muhyiddin was sworn in as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia. In his first address to the nation on March 2, he said the decision to accept the appointment was “to prevent Malaysia from being dragged into a prolonged political crisis”

Meanwhile, Tun Mahathir admitted that he felt most betrayed by Muhyiddin.