KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Sin Chew Daily) — United Malays National Organization (Umno) has submitted a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong stating that 14 members of parliament (MPs) from Umno had retracted their support for prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

The letter also suggested an Umno leader to be prime minister.

Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is now regarded as Umno's alternative candidate while party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is lobbying for the PM post.

The latest development reveals that Ahmad Zahid is vying for the PM post in his capacity as Umno president, if he succeeds in overturning Muhyiddin.

However, not all Umno leaders support Zahid as prime minister.

A source told Sin Chew Daily some Umno leaders recommend Tengku Razaleigh to be the interim prime minister as he is highly respected in Umno and is not embroiled in legal tussle.

Ku Li is a veteran Umno leader and the party's advisory board chairman.

Zahid announced retracting support for Muhyiddin and the PN government in a press conference after chairing the party's supreme council meeting on August 3.

In the press conference, he urged Muhyiddin to step down. Ku Li was also at the press conference.

Sources said after Umno successfully unseats Muhyiddin, the party would be lobbying for an Umno MP to be prime minister or caretaker prime minister.

Umno does not support Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim nor Pejuang president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

On the other hand, online news portal MalaysiaNow quoted two party insiders as saying Ahmad Zahid offered himself to be prime minister in a closed door meeting with Umno MPs.

Sources said Ahmad Zahid would not support any non-Umno candidate.

Of the 38 Umno MPs, only 15 MPs supported Zahid to withdraw support for Muhyiddin.

Sources also said Ahmad Zahid vowed that he would convince MPs from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu (Bersatu) to increase the number of MPs supporting his cause for Umno to be the main player in the government again.

"This is the reason why Datuk Noraini Ahmad and Datuk Seri Samsul Anuar Nasarah were willing to quit their positions.

"They believe Ahmad Zahid will be successful and they are going to be rewarded with even better positions," said the source.

Various parties under the Pakatan Harapan coalition also submitted their letters to the King on not supporting Muhyiddin as prime minister.

However, the letters by the respective political parties did not include a candidate for prime minister.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat told Sin Chew Daily Pakatan Harapan reiterated their stand on not supporting Muhyiddin as the latter had lost the majority support in parliament.

"Pakatan Harapan hopes the King would consider the current situation and call for a special parliamentary sitting for MPs to vote on whether Muhyiddin has sufficient support."

A DAP source said the party's PM candidate is Anwar.

If Anwar does not have the support from most of the MPs, it did not rule out the possibility of supporting a candidate from another party.

Sources from Pakatan Harapan said the coalition must seize the opportunity to topple Muhyiddin and the PN government so that Bersatu would not be able to control government resources for the next general election.

PH would not want Umno and Bersatu to collaborate or it would have a difficult time gaining Malay votes.