From Terence Netto

It would have been myopic for Bersatu to replace deputy president Hamzah Zainudin with its vice-president Radzi Jidin as opposition leader.

The move was contemplated but not acceded to by the meeting of party MPs at party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s home on Tuesday night.

The meeting was called to reduce tensions within the party from the strife between factions led by secretary-general Azmin Ali on the one side and Hamzah on the other.

As a resolution of sorts, it was considered that Hamzah should be replaced by Radzi as parliamentary opposition leader.

Such a move would have meant that Hamzah was to be punished for fanning the flames of dissension against Muhyiddin though he disavowed responsibility.

Saner counsels prevailed so that the status quo was maintained with regard to Hamzah’s position as opposition leader.

It would have been short-sighted to replace Hamzah with Radzi.

Hamzah brings a more amenable tone to that position than anyone else in Bersatu or even in PAS, Bersatu’s senior partner in PN, would be able to do.

Just watching the video of him, surrounded by the PN parliamentary cohort, addressing a press conference on the coalition’s rejection of the agreement on reciprocal trade between Malaysia and the US signed on Oct 26, was instructive of his value to PN as lead negotiator.

He said PN did not object to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim dancing with Donald Trump at the airport reception for the president but drew the line on ceding the country’s sovereignty to the US.

This he claimed was what the agreement boded for Malaysia.

Hamzah’s remarks on the occasion showed he can convey dissent without menace, criticism without self-righteousness.

His barbs were veneered with humour, avoiding hypocrisy while moving the business of disagreement along without shrillness.

Hamzah showed he is a competent professional of rounded edges and consensual instincts.

These are precisely the traits a negotiator would need in PN’s effort to draw the disparate political entities inhabiting the grey area outside the Madani government into electoral collaboration going into GE16 which is expected anytime between next November and February 2028.

PN needs this collaboration if it intends to oust the Madani government at the polls.

Tuesday night’s armistice between Bersatu’s feuding factions is not likely to last for long for the reason that factional rivalry within Malay-dominant political parties is the consequence of a rise in the number of people ambitious to become prime minister.

It is quite obvious Hamzah wants to be prime minister.

And why not?

On recent evidence he has shown he is a competent professional of rounded edges and consensual instincts, the type our polarised political climate may need as balm for bruised sensitivities.

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.