Reports by ALLISON LAI, NURBAITI HAMDAN, DIYANA PFORDTEN, JUSTIN ZACK and FAZLEENA AZIZ
PETALING JAYA: The man, whom his supporters fondly call Abah, has gone through a roller-coaster ride in a career that has spanned decades.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin started his working career at the Johor civil service.
His resume included stints at several investment subsidiaries owned by the Johor government.
The Muar boy who was born in 1947 eventually became Johor mentri besar, a post he held for two terms from 1986 to 1995.
This stint came at a time of vast growth in the state.
But it is his involvement in federal politics that has led to a lengthy biodata.
Muhyiddin, who has been Pagoh MP since 1978, has held a wide spectrum of positions, ranging from Foreign Ministry parliamentary secretary to deputy Federal Territories minister.
As for other positions, he was once Youth and Sports minister, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry minister, Education minister and International Trade and Industry minister.
In 2009, when he was Education minister, the ministry phased out the teaching of Maths and Science in English, taking into consideration the needs of children from rural areas.
When Datuk Seri Najib Razak became prime minister in 2009, Muhyiddin became his deputy.
However, he was sacked as deputy prime minister during a mid-term Cabinet reshuffle in July 2015 over criticism of Najib’s involvement in 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
The following year, his ties with Umno ended.
Initially, he was suspended as Umno’s deputy president, and by June of that year, he was sacked.
After his dismissal, Muhyiddin joined Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which formed an alliance with Pakatan Harapan.
The coalition had a historic victory in the 2018 general election, which ended Barisan Nasional’s rule.
However, the Pakatan administration lasted just 22 months.
The infamous Sheraton Move in 2020 led to Dr Mahathir stepping down and Muhyiddin becoming the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.
But Muhyiddin was compelled to quit the post, which he held for 17 months, due to infighting within the coalition.
In the last general election, Muhyiddin’s Bersatu teamed up with PAS under Perikatan Nasional, which won 74 seats as a result of the “green wave”.
It was a hung Parliament, but eventually a unity government was formed and the Muhyiddin-led Perikatan ended up on the Opposition bench.
Late last month, talk began swirling about the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probing Jana Wibawa, a project that began during Muhyiddin’s tenure as PM.
Among those eventually brought to court was Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court on Feb 21 to charges of soliciting and receiving bribes of RM6.9mil.
And Muhyiddin, who had campaigned in the 15th General Election against Umno kleptocrats, has now become part of the court cluster.
