KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has claimed the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is in tatters because it is facing six state elections with only Umno contesting.

The former prime minister told a ceramah in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan last night that the basis of his assertion can be seen in Umno going into the election without its BN partners MCA and MIC, which he said in the first time in history, news portal Free Malaysia Today reported.

"I asked Surash (PN Jeram Padang’s candidate S. Surash) ‘who are you up against?’ He said BN. Who is the BN chief? Zahid Hamidi. We are not fighting BN, we are fighting Umno,” Muhyiddin was quoted as saying, referring to BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also Umno president.

Both MCA and MIC have announced they would not be participating in the August 12 state polls, but would assist in the campaign.

According to the news portal, Muhyiddin urged Umno members to vote for PN instead, saying their party is being forced to work with former political nemesis DAP as part of the unity government to "protect” Zahid who is facing 47 charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption.

"He is willing to sacrifice his party to protect his position,” Muhyiddin claimed of Zahid.

Muhyiddin, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president, said that PN refused to form the government with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition after GE15 because its component parties could not work with the DAP since there was no common ground.

Bersatu was previously part of the PH coalition that won GE14 in 2018 even though DAP was a component party even back then.

In another ceramah at Felda Jelai in Tampin last night, Muhyiddin claimed that Umno is also fragmented due to Zahid’s decision to ally with DAP, a party it has always despised, Sinar Harian reported separately.

"Since I’ve been an Umno member, it’s always been a thing not to even mention DAP. It was a no-no. It’s a party that should not be supported by Malays. It’s not that I want to talk about race, but their fight is not one that understands the aspirations of the Malays,” he was quoted as saying by the Malay daily.

Muhyiddin said that it was odd that Umno and DAP were now in an alliance because of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and added that the Umno today was not the same party as when he was its deputy president.

Muhyiddin was sacked from Umno in June 2016 for attacking the party leadership when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was its president after speaking out openly against the 1MDB financial scandal.