KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dispensed completely with all subtleties today and openly denounced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as a "shameless” convict who was dragging Umno down with him.

In a venomous rebuttal to Najib’s claims that Bersatu had betrayed Umno in the 2020 Sabah state election, Muhyiddin told the former prime minister to stop twisting facts in an attempt to depict Bersatu as a treacherous partner.

"I feel Datuk Seri Najib should spend some time in introspection. No need to play such disgusting politics.

"You have already been convicted in court of a very serious crime. There should be at least some shame.

"In Islam, shame is part of faith. Unfortunately, in Umno, a man convicted of a grave offence described as a ‘national embarrassment’ is instead placed on a pedestal as a boss and cheered on with the slogan, ‘malu apa, bossku’.

"Where is your faith? Where is your pride?” he said in a statement today.

Muhyiddin’s statement today was in response to Najib’s remarks last month claiming Umno had felt betrayed by Bersatu over various incidents from the Sabah state election, including being forced to surrender the chief minister’s post to the latter party.

In his post, Najib also sought to remind Bersatu that the party had been invited to the Muafakat Nasional pact Umno and PAS signed prior to the formation of Perikatan Nasional.

Today, Muhyiddin questioned why Najib raised the topic of MN, saying the matter was moot since Bersatu already decided not to join while Umno has also resolved in a previous annual assembly to reject Bersatu.

"Bersatu was wise not to cooperate with Umno. Now, Bersatu is not tainted with the moral problems of Umno leaders.

"Personally, I would be ashamed to be linked to a party who holds up a man convicted of a serious criminal offence as a boss!”

Umno and Bersatu are nominally allied in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s federal administration but are openly hostile towards each other in virtually all other settings.

The two supposed allies are expected to clash heavily in the state election for Johor, the birthplace of Umno but also where the Malay nationalist party lost significant ground in the 2018 general election.

Last December, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision to convict Najib of all his charges of abuse, corruption, and money laundering related to RM42 million belonging to a former 1MDB subsidiary.

The appellate court went on to label Najib’s conduct in the SRC case as a "national embarrassment” rather than acts of national interest, as the former prime minister’s lawyers tried to claim.

Najib is appealing the matter further to the Federal Court.