Malaysia’s Umno in tough spot ahead of Johor vote after veteran claims royal interference

Malaysia’s ruling Malay party was pulled 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 lands at a difficult moment for the United Malays National Organisation, the Malay nationalist party that anchors Barisan Nasional (BN). It is trying to defend Johor, its birthplace and one of its last major strongholds, without allowing the campaign to be overtaken 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 Rengit assemblyman, when he announced he was leaving the party with immediate effect.

“Police expect the number to continue increasing,” Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said on Thursday.

He said the case was 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.

Puad said in a social media post on Thursday he was leaving Umno so he could “hold differing views without being accused of stabbing the party in the back”.