Commentary: UMNO chief Zahid seems sure the political winds have shifted in his favour - CNA

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim can buy time if he can resist his deputy’s push for an immediate general election. But he still needs a solution, says Asian studies professor James Chin.

(From left) UMNO Deputy President and Malaysia Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, UMNO President and Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, UMNO Permanent Chairman Badruddin Amiruldin and UMNO Secretary-General Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki at the UMNO General Assembly at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur on Sep 11, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Fadza Ishak)

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James Chin 17 Sep 2026 06:00AM (Updated: 18 Sep 2026 12:13AM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST HOBART, Australia: Last weekend’s general assembly was not a routine party gathering of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). It was a declaration of intent.

“The time has come for GE16 to be held immediately,” said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, UMNO president and deputy prime minister to Mr Anwar Ibrahim. Malaysia’s next general election (GE16) would be the moment to “reclaim the mandate to lead”.

Two state polls on the peninsula have likely boosted Mr Zahid’s confidence. UMNO-led coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) swept 48 of 56 seats in Johor in July and 18 of 36 seats in Negeri Sembilan in August.

But are two state wins enough for UMNO to want that national contest brought forward?

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at a press conference announcing the Cabinet reshuffle on Dec 12, 2023. (Photo: Prime Minister's Office) BETTING ON MALAY CONSOLIDATIONUMNO is seeing another lesson here: That a collaboration with Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), whether formal or tacit, has clear potential as an electoral machine in GE16. Together, BN and PAS formed a supermajority with 25 seats in Negeri Sembilan. 

At the general assembly, Mr Zahid called for a “grand collaboration”. PAS leaders were invited to the meeting. Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders were not. 

The packaging was familiar. For me, the grand collaboration is a rebrand of the old Muafakat Nasional alliance between UMNO and PAS. 

Even though Mr Zahid ruled out the possibility of a Muafakat 2.0 just months ago, he spoke last weekend of tafahum siyasi – a political understanding that would not merge parties or erase identities but stop Malays from clashing with one another. 

The substance is the same: Malay-Muslim consolidation first, everyone else later. The difference this time is that non-Malay parties appear to be welcome to join the grand collaboration, with UMNO in charge. 

PAS likely sees partnership with BN as its best shot to be part of the federal government and is willing to pay the price of playing junior partner to UMNO.

UMNO has not behaved like a partner anxious to preserve a coalition. The party has been openly undermining the unity government by cooperating with PAS to avoid splitting the vote in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, while still sitting in federal Cabinet. 

At UMNO’s meeting, it openly dared Mr Anwar to sack the party from government and call for early general elections. It is the behaviour of a party preparing the ground to take over the next government.

The arithmetic is brutal and simple. Looking at the combined performance of PAS and BN from the 2022 general election (GE15), they could easily win about 100 parliamentary seats in GE16. 

That is short of the 112 simple majority needed to take Putrajaya on their own, but GE15 was widely recognised as a poor showing for BN. If the political winds have indeed changed and favour a “Malay Tsunami”, a united UMNO-PAS ticket could even win about 120 seats outright.

UMNO is also hoping to recapture some lost Malay ground, after spending nearly a full term governing alongside the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which is a component party of Mr Anwar’s PH coalition. Large parts of the Malay electorate still do not trust the DAP in federal government.