February 16, 2026
KUALA LUMPUR – BERSATU president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has finally laid down the scalpel, having performed the radical political surgery he deemed necessary to preserve his authority over his party. The diagnosis he delivered to the party was absolute: a spreading malignancy identified as Team Hamzah.
To Muhyiddin, this faction was no longer just a dissenting voice; it was an immense threat – a cancerous growth that had developed its own DNA, and that was operating independently of the party’s central nervous system.
The logic behind the purge of Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and some of his core supporters is rooted in the most basic principle of oncology: If you do not remove the cancer, it will eventually consume the host.
In a press statement issued yesterday, Muhyiddin maintained that he acted in good faith to save Bersatu from a deputy who had allegedly spent years undermining party unity despite the president’s efforts to bridge divides. He expressed deep disappointment at the lack of appreciation for his leadership, noting that he had originally recommended Hamzah for the deputy presidency, even though he knew the Larut MP opposed him.
“Before taking disciplinary action, efforts were made to seek common ground and save the party through a series of meetings and discussions with the involved parties,” the Pagoh MP said.
“However, these efforts were unsuccessful. In fact, there were certain individuals who continuously carried out acts of sabotage against the party with the aim of dividing it and undermining the party’s struggle and objectives.”
On Friday, the Bersatu disciplinary board finalised the “major surgery” by sacking 17 members with immediate effect. Among those sacked were Larut MP Hamzah, Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, Padang Rengas MP Kapten Azahari Hasan, and Gerik MP Fathul Huzir Ayob.
Previously, Muhyiddin had performed several “minor surgeries”, beginning with the expulsion of Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Seri Wan Saiful Wan Jan on Oct 14, followed by the removal of Indera Mahkota MP Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah on Jan 6.
However, Muhyiddin has executed the ultimate surgical paradox.
In a political sense, these MPs and their followers were not just “cells”; they were the blood, muscle, and bone of the party’s machinery. This radical excision of high-profile leaders risks a fatal haemorrhage. In medicine, a successful surgery is one where the tumour is removed, but in politics, if the removal of the tumour leaves the body too weak to function, the patient is effectively dead anyway.
This is a cure that might still kill Bersatu
Muhyiddin gambled that the remaining “healthy” parts of Bersatu could stabilise and regenerate, yet he ignored the immediate systemic shock that followed. The danger remains that Team Hamzah was never a superficial cyst that could be easily flicked away. It was an invasive growth woven into the party’s vital organs – the grassroots divisions and the parliamentary numbers.
The party has not emerged from this procedure “cancer- free”. Yesterday, 19 Bersatu MPs (including those sacked) were named as showing support for Hamzah by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee during a rebel Bersatu gathering.
Let’s do the maths: Bersatu had 31 MPs after the 15th General Election in 2022; six became independent when they supported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim; with 19 MPs now aligned with Hamzah (including the sacked individuals), it means Muhyiddin only has five MPs who support him, six MPs all together counting himself.
The fracture in Bersatu is not a simple duel between Muhyiddin and Hamzah. It is a long-standing war of attrition between party secretary-general Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Hamzah.
The fault lines were visible as far back as the 2020 Sabah state elections. At that time, Bersatu was at its zenith: Muhyiddin was prime minister, Hamzah held the powerful Home Ministry portfolio, and Azmin served as Senior Minister (Economic Cluster) and International Trade and Industry Minister. But even then, whispers of competing Team Azmin and Team Hamzah candidate lists were floated as both men fought to plant their loyalists to contest in the Sabah polls.
The shadow play then escalated into open conflict. Muhyiddin attempted to broker peace by appointing Hamzah as deputy president and Azmin as secretary- general, hoping this balance of power would stabilise the warring factions.
Instead, the move appeared only to provide a closer vantage point from which the “malignant cells” could strike. Team Hamzah eventually went for the president’s throat, attempting to oust Muhyiddin from the top post and undermining his standing with PAS enough to force his resignation as Perikatan Nasional chairman.
It was likely at this point that Muhyiddin decided he had to perform a radical excision. Now, the existential question looms: Will Bersatu survive the surgery? The initial prognosis is bleak. With most of Bersatu’s remaining MPs reportedly aligned with Hamzah, further sackings are inevitable, potentially leaving the party a hollow shell.
Furthermore, the “family members” in the waiting room, specifically PAS, seem to prefer the patient’s removed parts over the surgeon. It was evident on Friday, when Hamzah shared photographs of himself and Team Hamzah enjoying tea with PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang in Marang, Terengganu, just hours after Hamzah’s expulsion.
As the dust settles in the operating theatre, it remains to be seen who will ultimately survive: the institutional carcass of Bersatu or Team Hamzah, which has already begun to find a new host.
The surgical success has, in many ways, left Muhyiddin as a surgeon standing alone (with Team Azmin) in an empty theatre. By removing the “cancer”, he has also removed the party’s primary link to its most powerful ally, PAS, and decimated its parliamentary presence. The patient may be clean of dissent, but without the support of the remaining MPs and the grassroots machinery controlled by Team Hamzah, the president risks presiding over a skeleton party.
The image of Hamzah seated comfortably with Hadi suggests that while the surgery was meant to save Bersatu’s identity, it may have instead accelerated its irrelevance. If the removed “cells” are more viable than the remaining “body”, then Muhyiddin’s surgery was not a cure, but a final, unintended act of assisted suicide for the party he built.