Malaysia’s ruling Malay party has been drawn into a sensitive palace row on the eve of Johor’s nomination day after a veteran figure quit Umno and accused the southern state’s royal household of influencing the timing of a snap election.
The controversy arrives at a difficult moment for the United Malays National Organisation, the Malay nationalist party anchoring the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. It is trying to defend Johor, its birthplace and one of its last major strongholds, without letting the campaign be consumed by Malaysia’s highly sensitive “3R” politics of race, religion and royalty.
Johor police said 153 reports had been lodged nationwide by Thursday afternoon over remarks made by Mohd Puad Zarkashi, an Umno supreme council member and outgoing assemblyman for Rengit, who announced that same day that he was leaving the party with immediate effect.
“Police expect the number to continue increasing,” Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said on Thursday.
The case is being investigated under the Sedition Act, the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act, with convictions carrying penalties ranging from fines to jail terms of up to five years.
In a social media post, Puad said he was leaving Umno so he could “hold differing views without being accused of stabbing the party in the back”.