One day after Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin resigned and then retracted his resignation, Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal stood up in the Dewan Rakyat and declared his support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Earlier, the same MP had stood up and said he would support Anwar if he were given RM50 million. This time, however, he made no mention of his RM50 million demand and declared support without any conditions.

No one knows yet if the constituency development funds (CDF) were immediately released to him. But the four MPs who declared their support for the PM previously are said to have received their CDFs. Why Anwar wants to deprive the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) of CDFs — which is the people’s right to have — is hard to fathom except that it demonstrates his abandonment of democratic principles.

Whatever his reasons, it is leverage he is using to get PN’s obeyance and Muhyiddin risks losing more PN MPs if he is one of the reasons why his MPs are one by one declaring their support for Anwar.

Muhyiddin may have realised that he was losing support and decided to resign to test that support. A howl of protest from the floor at Bersatu’s annual general meeting last Friday and at his wife’s behest made him change his mind. These factors, however, do not indicate the exact level of support for him unless he stands for election.

The party supreme council also rejected his resignation and Muhyiddin in his closing speech said he would defend his position at the party elections next year.

This simply means Anwar’s unity government is now secure as PN may ease up on any effort to bring about a change in government until next year’s party election. As long as Muhyiddin continues to helm Bersatu, Anwar’s government is not under threat. But a change of party president or president-designate would be a threat.

The concern to urge Muhyiddin to reconsider his decision might have been due to the fear that without any “big name” in Bersatu, PN would lose its pull factor. Political analysts also said that Muhyuiddin had retracted his resignation to avoid infighting.

Yet, despite Muhyiddin bearing the “big name” label, and an impressive win in last November’s general elections, he was unable to win Selangor and Negri Sembilan in the state elections in August and lost all the subsequent by-elections in constituencies south of the four PAS-held states up north, namely Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Although PN won more votes, it lost the seats mainly because of over-reliance on PAS which only has a limited appeal to moderate Malays and non-Malays who combined form the majority in the states south of the PAS-ruled northern states.

The question to ask is whether Muhyiddin can appeal to this still undecided group of voters. If he can’t, he should resign and let a new crop of leaders who do not rely on PAS and are more confident of winning the support of this large untapped reserve of voters, to lead the party.

Another question to ask is whether Muhyiddin is a strong factor in attracting MPs, especially in Umno, to join it by triggering by-elections. Apparently, so far, no MP has left Umno for Bersatu after Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi purged the party of dissidents. They have joined PAS but not Bersatu.

Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said in a recent interview that MPs in Barisan Nasional of which Umno is the lead party would not leave the coalition as they may face a claim of RM100 million.

With a new Bersatu leadership, however, Umno MPs may see in it a more likely possibility of forming a government and may be willing to take the risk and resign en masse triggering simultaneous by-elections and face the possibility of a fine in court. By that time a new government may be formed and the courts may dismiss the case describing it as purely academic.

If Umno MPs choose not to leave the party, they face the near-certainty of losing their seats in the next elections because Umno has lost credibility with its support base.

The fear that Muhyiddin’s resignation would lead to infighting can be easily allayed if Muhyiddin himself undertakes the responsibility of overseeing the transition to a leadership of not just the president but a president and a team solidly backing him.

Such a team will be a clear threat to the unity government because people will see in it an inherent capability to form a government that is Malay-majority based and inclusive of other Malaysian communities.

Bersatu will thus be seen as a truly national party and deserving to form a government. That commitment to put the nation ahead as a Malay-majority-led government encompassing all Malaysian communities rather than just a Malay-majority-led coalition must become Bersatu’s overriding strategy. It is Bersatu rather than PAS that can take the initiative to achieve it.

The Malays voted for PN on the basis that it would form a government. Each day PN fails to realise this objective, disillusionment will set in as evidenced by the PN MPs who declared support for Anwar and the coalition risks losing its voters.

It is, therefore, imperative that Muhyiddin undertakes the transition to a new leadership now. The argument that a party needs a “big name” is not true. Parties can’t have big names all the time. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak were not big names in their parties. So, how did they become presidents and a prime minister? They had — and have — very good teams.

There are people in Bersatu who together can form a good team. Bersatu, more than PAS or Umno or PKR, has candidates who can form a capable team to lead the nation. Muhyiddin should capitalise on it and get all the factions to come together in an alliance where each faction’s leader takes turns to be the party president with all the factions joining forces to back him.

When that happens, Bersatu will be seen as getting its act together and it may attract more MPs to join it and more voters to support it.

The Bersatu president may become the next prime minister but he needs a strong team to back him. With a strong team behind him, he will be able to move forward and stand up for the sovereignty of the nation. He and his team will get their job done and in a crisis of a conflict of interests have the confidence to uphold the federal constitution. That’s the kind of leader the people will trust and respect.

The way forward is to get a strong team for the good of the nation. Good luck, Bersatu.