Party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said these Umno MPs should not support those who want to hang on to power by going against the Federal Constitution and the royal institution.

“Now is the time to prove to the people that as elected representatives from Umno, they are prepared to stand with the ‘rakyat’.

“It’s time to show the rakyat that we are fighting for them,” he said in a Facebook post.

Zahid reiterated that the Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government failed to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, and this has resulted in more than 10,000 people losing their lives to the virus.

“Umno MPs who are still backing Muhyiddin’s administration should also understand the advice by their deputy president (Mohamad Hasan) for ties between the Supreme Council and elected representatives to be harmonised in the interest of the party and nation,” he said.

Zahid’s plea comes a week after he was reported to have called for Umno MPs to quit their ministerial posts to prove their loyalty to the party, which earlier this month retracted its support for the PN-led government.

Noraini Ahmad and Shamsul Anuar Nasarah have since stepped down as higher education minister, and energy and natural resources minister, respectively.

However, Maran MP and deputy housing and local government minister Ismail Abd Muttalib has broken ranks with the party leadership, saying that it was his responsibility and duty “to race, religion and the country” to continue backing Muhyiddin.

Other Umno MPs who remain in government include deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein, and science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin.