Hundreds of thousands of Malaysians were in tears when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin tendered to the king his resignation as Malaysia's eighth prime minister on Aug 16.
They had prior to that, expressed their prayers through social media in the hope that Muhyiddin — fondly known to them as abah (father) — would reconsider his decision.
They realised the resignation was neither due to the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government's failure in managing the Covid-19 pandemic, nor Muhyiddin's inability to save the lives and livelihoods of Malaysians from the non-military global war.
Nevertheless, several opposition leaders had said the resignation was a "punishment" for Muhyiddin's alleged betrayal for pulling Bersatu out of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which caused the downfall of the PH government.
This reflected the political absurdity of certain opposition leaders who exacted vengeance on Muhyiddin to the extent of disrupting the planned operations against the "invisible enemy" undertaken by the National Security Council (NSC) since March last year.
It also amplified their disregard for the PN government's dedication to solving human, public health, socioeconomic and food insecurities emerging from the pandemic war.
The above were coupled with endless episodes of "game of thrones" and politics of numbers staged by another opposition faction, allegedly caused by the unfinished Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad-Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim premiership tug-of-war in the PH era.
This faction had been persistently bashing the PN government for declaring a national emergency to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
They interpreted the Constitutional provision legitimising the emergency purely from the legal aspect of parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, without acknowledging the severity of the Covid-19 threat to the country.
This was allegedly engineered to fast-track a regime change to satisfy the geopolitical desire of certain quarters due to Malaysia's strategic location in Southeast Asia and its relevance to Asia-Pacific's international politics.
Allegation on this regime change was made during the peak of political pressures on Muhyiddin to convene a Parliament sitting, although variants of the pandemic had infected several parliamentary and ministerial staff during a five-day session beginning July 26.
The above was aggravated by the move of several Umno leaders who withdrew their support from the PN government.
Hence, for Muhyiddin to stay on was not an option. But, the political absurdity, "game of thrones" and politics of numbers have their roots in Bersatu's exit from the PH government and political alliance.
Several Bersatu insiders, including a former minister in the PH era and two others in the PN administration, informed that Muhyiddin had executed Bersatu"'s exit due to the following factors.
FIRSTLY, the exit was a planned move since the second quarter of 2019, in which the Malay Dignity Congress in October that year was its major prelude.
This was implicitly verified by Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, Bersatu's secretary-general, in his YouTube statement (March 29, 2020), that among the reasons were to untangle Bersatu's alliance with DAP and deter Anwar from succeeding Dr Mahathir as prime minister.
This was confirmed by Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan in his article "Why Did Bersatu Leave Pakatan Harapan?", published in June last year by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.
These facts, uncontested until today, indicated that the so-called "Sheraton Move" said to have been planned by Muhyiddin and others to enable him to become the prime minister, was nothing more than a political spin, driven by devious motives to shield and deflect the truth.
The Bersatu insiders added that, Muhyiddin who had cancer, was included in the planning of Bersatu's exit only after he received a clean bill of health from medical experts in the United States in the third quarter of 2019.
SECONDLY, Muhyiddin, as Bersatu president, was said to have executed the plan even after Dr Mahathir had relinquished his premiership, allegedly to deter PH from ruling the country.
THIRDLY, the plan was executed even after Dr Mahathir's resignation because the then PH government was construed as attempting to implement an alternative nation-building strategy perceived as counterproductive to Bumiputeras as Malaysia's major national group and Islam as the official religion of the federation.
In conclusion, Muhyiddin's resignation was not caused by his failure in managing the pandemic, but due to his intolerance to the political absurdities, "game of thrones", corruption, abuse of power and the accusation that he deliberately hammered "the last nail" in the PH coffin.
This resignation enables Muhyiddin to hold his head up high and stay above the unproductive political fray.
The writer is an analyst of strategic and security issues, and was a member of parliament for Parit Sulong, Johor, 1990-2003
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times