PAKATAN Harapan (PH) which is UMNO’s biggest rival in the upcoming Johor state election (July 11) is surely laughing by the sideline watching back-and-forth exchanges of blows in aftermath of the abrupt departure of its outspoken former supreme council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi.
More so after some 153 police reports have trickled in nationwide as of 3pm yesterday (June 25) with more reports expected to be lodged against the former Johor state assembly speaker following his claim of “palace intervention” in the running of state administration matters.
The first two reports were lodged in Johor Baru yesterday (June 25) at 10.53am and 12.13pm from the caretaker executive councillor and caretaker Johor Menteri Besar’s political secretary respectively.
This follows the 69-year-old Puad’s admission in a Facebook post that Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi had himself made a confession to him (Puad) during a meeting in Saujana on June 21 (Sunday) that the Johore Palace had ordered him (Onn) to dissolve the Johor State Assembly on June 1.
Investigation against the Rengit state assemblyman will now pursue according to Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948, Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.
Leading the chorus of attack against Puad who is strangely seen as a vocal supporter of UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is none other than the party’s rightist youth wing chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh who enlightened Puad that “UMNO is not a family party”.
“When your kid can’t be a candidate (in the state polls), everything is wrong with UMNO,” slammed the Merlimau state assemblyman who at 37 is less than half of Puad’s age.
“Your accusations against the monarchy are very serious and we’ll file police reports so that these accusations can be investigated and if they aren’t true, then the person making the accusations must be punished.”
Beyond reconciliation
This follows the damning revelation by UMNO secretary-general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki that Puad left the party due to the failure to secure a nomination for his son to contest the Rengit state seat as opposed to the alleged interference by the Palace in Johor UMNO affairs.
The MARA chairman further claimed that Puad had sent him a long message expressing his intention to leave the party and be an UMNO critic if the party’s top leadership did not consider his son as a candidate for the Rengit state seat contest.
“For the record, this is not the first time he (Puad) has threatened to leave the party if his demands are not met,” penned Asyraf on his Facebook page.
“During Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s time as UMNO president, he also threatened to leave the party if he wasn’t re-nominated as a candidate for the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat.”
Interestingly, Puad in rebutting Asyraf’s reasoning that the core issue lies in his son’s candidacy, agreed somehow that he did protest what he deemed as “unfair candidate selection system”.
“When (my request) was not entertained, what other choice do I have? The party has seemingly become an exclusive property. That’s why I performed kamikaze to make the leaders aware,” he justified while insinuating that this is a separate matter which he will expose in a day or two in another social media posting.
Regarding my son, is it wrong for me to nominate him? Why is that an issue? If not, why can the daughter of the Ledang division chief contest in Serom?
There is nothing wrong in nominating a trained child as a candidate. Ali trained his daughter to be a boxer. Of course, the child was brought into the ring after she was ready enough to fight.
For now, the bottom line is such that while UMNO is fighting an internal battle to keep Puad at bay as he aspired to be a full-fledged UMNO critic à la Rafizi-styled rebellion against PKR, PH backers are literally cheering by the sideline watching the fun unfold.
“This ain’t Hollywood anymore; this has turned into K-drama 🍿” quipped Madani cybertrooper JOKER 🔺(@tjerealjoker) on X.
PANAS🔥
Asyraf Wajdi londehkan whatsapp beliau dengan Puad Zarkashi.
Mula², Puad umum keluar Umno dan tuduh Onn jadi Pak Turut dan boneka Istana sahaja.
Pastu Onn deny dan buat report polis.
Now, Asyraf londehkan Puad pula.
Ni bukan Hollywood lagi dah.. ni dah jadi Kdrama
🍿 pic.twitter.com/8ZJkD8GRvg— JOKER 🔺 (@tjerealjoker) June 25, 2026
Whatever the case is, renowned political commentator Prof James Chin has described the episode which is still unravelling as simply “this is 💣💣💣💣💣…”. – June 26, 2026
Main image credit: Bernama
