KUALA LUMPUR – Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is the main obstacle preventing Perikatan Nasional (PN) from functioning as an effective opposition, suspended party members have sensationally claimed, alleging a deliberate internal campaign to sabotage opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin.
In a damning indictment of their party’s leadership, Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal and sacked Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan said Muhyiddin’s inner circle has actively worked to undermine Hamzah’s authority.
The shocking claims were made on the Trick Lama podcast earlier this week, hosted by Big Boom Media’s Group Executive Director Datuk Ahirudin Attan, better known as Rocky Bru, and Scoop’s Editor-in-Chief Terence Fernandez. Wan Fayhsal described the power struggle as a classic case of “two lions on the same mountain,” where Hamzah’s efforts to lead a robust opposition were consistently thwarted.
He revealed that whenever Hamzah attempted to challenge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government forcefully, he would be reined in by Muhyiddin’s loyalists.
“Every time the opposition leader tried to be assertive, to fight Anwar head-on, he was reminded by the president’s right-hand men: ‘You are not the leader of Perikatan Nasional. You are just the opposition leader in Parliament’,” Wan Fayhsal said.
This internal sabotage, he argued, has left the opposition paralysed and unable to fulfil its role.
“Hamzah’s wings were being clipped. That’s why PN was not so effective in the beginning,” he stated bluntly. Wan Saiful echoed this sentiment, arguing that PN’s performance only improved when Hamzah was able to step out from Muhyiddin’s shadow.
“When people said Perikatan Nasional was weak, the one leading was Tan Sri Muhyiddin,” Wan Saiful said.
“But when Datuk Seri Hamzah moved to the forefront, he started organising our movements in the Dewan Rakyat and began issuing statements on behalf of Perikatan Nasional. The momentum surged.”
According to Wan Fayhsal, this internal resistance stemmed from the fact that Hamzah was not a presidential appointee but was chosen as opposition leader with the backing of PAS.
“The person who proposed his name to be the opposition leader was PAS themselves,” he said, suggesting that Hamzah’s strong relationship with the coalition’s largest party was viewed as a threat by Muhyiddin’s camp.
The duo asserted that this constant infighting is the core reason for the opposition’s perceived weakness, and that their recent removal from the party was a direct consequence of them challenging this status quo. – October 25, 2025