Malaysian United Indigenous Party


The Malaysian United Indigenous Party is a nationalist political party in Malaysia formed on 8 September 2016. The party is currently led by 8th Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as the President & Acting Chairman. Other founding members of the party include United Malays National Organisation rebel group Gabungan Ketua Cawangan Malaysia, chairperson and former Teluk Kemang UMNO branch chief Kamarul Azman Habibur Rahman, former Langkawi UMNO delegate Anina Saadudin, and former Bendang Baru UMNO youth chief Akhramsyah Sanusi. It was a component party of the government coalition in Malaysia, the Perikatan Nasional, formerly Pakatan Harapan.
The party's full membership is open to all Bumiputeras. Non-Bumiputeras can also join the party as associate members although they are not eligible to vote and contest in party elections. Meanwhile, qualified individuals can be appointed to certain key party posts.

History

Formation

On 10 August 2016, former UMNO Deputy President, Muhyiddin Yassin registers Mahathir's new party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia to oust Najib Razak, 6th Prime Minister. Former 4th prime minister Mahathir Mohamad will be Bersatu's chairman, while his son Mukhriz will be the vice-president, & Muhyiddin will be the party's president. Bersatu's formation taken by former UMNO leaders who want to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak in the aftermath of the huge scandal surrounding troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Mahathir quit UMNO in February 2016 after he failed to convince the party to remove Najib Razak. Muhyiddin and Mukhriz, formerly chief minister of Kedah state, were sacked from the party by Mr Najib for allegedly colluding with the opposition. Bersatu is facing flak from some activists on its bumiputera-only policy, rather than welcoming all races as ordinary members. They are worried that the new party will be a clone of UMNO, with its sole agenda being PM Najib's removal. Muhyiddin said the party is looking to "create a government that is clean, trustworthy, with integrity". It hopes to reform institutions and rid the country of corruption.
On 12 November 2016, the party was committed to joining the opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan. Later, on 13 December, the party formed an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan,
On 14 March 2017, BERSATU officially joined Pakatan Harapan as a member party.
On 17 November 2017, PPBM may be deregistered if it fails to hold its annual general meeting by the end of the year, the Registry of Societies. RoS director-general Surayati Ibrahim said PPBM’s constitution stipulates that the party is not allowed to delay its AGM. The party may face “serious punishments”, including deregistration, if it continues to violate its own constitution. She also refuted the legitimacy of an extraordinary general meeting held by PPBM on 2 November 2016 because the EGM was only attended by 12 of PPBM’s supreme council members, according to the minutes of the meeting. Surayati also said PPBM’s decision to amend its constitution during last year’s EGM was invalid & under PPBM’s constitution, any amendments to the party constitution must be agreed upon by no less than two-thirds of the party’s delegates during an AGM or EGM. RoS looked into other issues that affected PPBM’s status as a registered party. Includes the setting up of PPBM’s Armada youth wing despite it not being mentioned in the party’s constitution. RoS investigated the legality of Armada after receiving complaints from former members who were supposedly sacked by Armada chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman. Surayati reiterated that the setting up of Armada and Srikandi, PPBM’s women wing, were not mentioned in the party’s constitution and could lead to the deregistration of PPBM. She said the RoS wanted to clear the air on PPBM’s status to avoid the impression that the party is being treated unfairly.

2018 general election

On 7 January 2018, Pakatan Harapan announced the Chairman of the United Indigenous Party of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Ministerial candidate if the opposition coalition accepts the people's mandate for the 14th General Election.
On 22 February 2018, PPBM filed a suit accusing the RoS of failing to exercise its duty under the law with regards to the party. In the lawsuit filed at the High Court registry, PPBM claimed the RoS did not adhere to provisions in the Societies’ Act in handling complaints related to PPBM. It also claimed the RoS had issued various statements related to allegations that the two-year-old party had violated its constitution. PPBM also claimed the RoS’ action in issuing press statements against it for allegedly violating its constitution was done in bad faith. The party is seeking court declarations that the RoS must follow the provisions in the Societies Act and that the RoS must not deregister PPBM. PPBM is also seeking an injunction to stop the RoS from issuing press statements pending the disposal of this court case.

Post election

On 10 May 2018 a day after the election, Mahathir Mohamad claimed a stunning victory in Malaysia’s 14th general election, ending UMNO’s long rule which the former and new premier played a key role in entrenching for more than two decades. Mahathir Mohamad sworn in as Malaysia's Prime Minister for second time since 2003. At 93 years of age, Mahathir was also the world's oldest head of government. PPBM won 13 seats in Parliment.
On 18 September 2018, Mustapa Mohamed announced quit UMNO, citing disagreements with the party's current direction. On the 27 October 2018, Mustapa joined BERSATU.
On 12 December 2018, A mass exodus from Sabah UMNO has begun with nine of 10 of its assemblymen, five of six MPs and two senators leaving the party & join PPBM
On 14 December 2018, Hamzah Zainuddin left UMNO, claimed that 36 BN MPs have signed a pledge of allegiance to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad & in 12 February 2019, seven UMNO's MP join PPBM.

Collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government

On 24 February 2020, Mahathir resigned as the Prime Minister. PPBM, which had 26 MPs, withdrew from the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition. In addition, 11 MPs from PKR resigned from the party to form an independent bloc. This leaves Pakatan Harapan 37 seats short of the 112 seats needed to form a government. The surprise announcement came amid speculation that Mahathir was attempting to form a new ruling coalition that would exclude his designated successor Anwar Ibrahim. However, Anwar later clarified to reporters that Mahathir did not orchestrate the act. At 9 pm, Bersatu leaders held an emergency meeting at its headquarters to discuss the future direction of the party. Members of Bersatu rejected Mahathir's resignation as the party's chairman and pledged their support for him to be the prime minister. The party's secretary-general Marzuki Yahya said that the members of Bersatu's supreme council were unanimous in their support for Mahathir.
On 26 February, Azmin & 10 MPs join PPBM to boost the support for Mahathir Mohamad amid signs of Pakatan Harapan MPs switching loyalties to Anwar Ibrahim. Apart from Azmin, the 10 others are Zuraida Kamaruddin, Saifuddin Abdullah, Baru Bian, Kamarudin Jaffar, Mansor Othman, Rashid Hasnon, Ali Biju, Willie Mongin and Jonathan Yasin.
On 28 February, Bersatu then released a statement announcing their support for the party's president, Muhyiddin Yassin as the 8th Prime Minister, backed by the 26 Bersatu MPs and 10 others led by Azmin. Further 60 MPs from UMNO, PAS, Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress also announced their support for Muhyiddin. All the Muafakat Nasional MPs had also signed the new SD proposing Muhyiddin to be the next Prime Minister. Muhyiddin Yassin's aide also confirmed that Azmin Ali and 10 other former PKR MPs have officially joined Bersatu. However, Bersatu Supreme Council member Kadir Jasin claimed he was never invited for a discussion or informed about Muhyiddin's nomination.
On 29 February, Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq declared that he would never work with those involved in corruption to form a government, referring to UMNO. Bersatu's youth wing Armada also posted a statement to say that it would continue to back the party's supreme council's decision in its meeting on 24 February to support Mahathir as prime minister, suggesting a split within Bersatu over Mahathir and Muhyiddin's candidacy.

Formation of the Perikatan Nasional government

Bersatu President, Muhyiddin Yassin and his allies including party leaders from UMNO, PAS, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah, and Homeland Solidarity Party had an audience with the Agong. He also announced that his coalition consisting of Bersatu, UMNO, PAS, PBRS, GPS, and STAR will be called Perikatan Nasional. The new coalition claimed that they have majority support in parliament to elect a Prime Minister and to form a government.
On 1 March, Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as the eighth prime minister in front of the Agong at the Istana Negara on the morning of 1 March 2020.
On the morning of 2 March, Muhyiddin arrived at the Perdana Putra building, which functions as the Prime Minister's Office, to begin his official duties as the Prime Minister. Muhyiddin held meetings with Chief Secretary Mohd Zuki Ali, General Affendi Buang, the Chief of Defence Forces, and Abdul Hamid Bador, the Inspector-General of Police. Later that night, Muhyiddin addressed the nation in his first televised message as the prime minister. In his address, he told the nation that he had no prior intention to become the prime minister and denied being a traitor but due to the political turmoil in the country, he had stepped up in order to avoid prolonging the crisis further. He also reassured that he will only choose individuals who are clean, virtuous and of high calibre to be in his cabinet. Before ending his message, he thanked former prime minister Mahathir for his service to the country.
On 19 May, it was revealed that Bersatu had received a letter on 5 May from the Registrar of Societies stating that Mahathir was no longer party chairman after his resignation in February. The letter also confirmed the legality of Muhyiddin assuming the role of chairman until an election was held.
In 28 - 30 May, Mahathir Mohamad, Mukhriz Mahathir, Syed Saddiq, Maszlee Malik and Amiruddin Hamzah were fired from Bersatu on 28 May. They decried the move as illegal and reflective of Muhyiddin's insecurities and dictatorial leadership. In a joint statement, they disputed the interpretation of their decision not to join Muhyiddin's government benches in Parliament as joining another party, which results in automatic revocation of memberships, according to the Bersatu party constitution. Muhyiddin defended the moves and insisted that the five members who were sacked as having breached the party constitution by sitting with the opposition in Parliament.
On 4 June, Deputy Works Minister Shahruddin Md Salleh of Bersatu resigned from his position, calling his decision to join the Perikatan Nasional government "incorrect" and adding that he should have considered his constituents who "voted for Pakatan Harapan" in 2018. On 19 July, his PPBM membership was terminated because he issued a notice to change the position of his seat in the Dewan Rakyat from the government bloc to the opposition bloc.
On 6 June, Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz, Indeoendent MP for Bukit Gantang hand over the application form to join and support the Bersatu. Also present were Bersatu MPs Senior Minister for Economy and Minister of International Trade and Industry, Azmin Ali and Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ali Biju.
On 24 June, Afif Bahradin announced his departure from PKR and joined forces with Bersatu.
On 25 July Asmawi Asa, the candidate for the Head of BERSATU Libaran Division made the announcement exit from party which was also attended by almost 2000 BERSATU members from 25 branches in Libaran, Sabah. He said the action to leave the party was made due to the feeling of injustice in relation to the BERSATU election which is being hotly debated right now. He regretted and felt resentment when his candidacy as Libaran Division Head together with the Deputy Division Head candidate and Vice Division Head was canceled three days before the election at the Divisional level held from July 10 to July 25.

Ideology

The main objectives of the party are:

Dewan Negara (Senate)

Senators

Members of Parliament of the 14th Malaysian Parliament

PPBM has 31 members in the House of Representatives.

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Malaysian State Assembly Representatives

PPBM state governments