KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Datuk Seri Azmin Ali penned a cryptic poem today that seemingly justified the plot to defect and back Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to take over as prime minister, just days after his formal induction into Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

In the first line of the poem, the federal minister and former PKR deputy president claimed he and Muhyiddin harboured a “huge secret”, clues to which can be found in a three-stanza poem written in Bahasa Melayu.

The first stanza reads:

“In the China Sea lies a dragon,

Greeted by lit firecrackers,

Why do you so drunkenly ask,

The tale behind the Sheraton Move.”

It is unclear who the dragon is, but the ensuing stanzas suggest the mythical creature is a symbolic representation of an unnamed influential person.

In the poem’s second stanza, Azmin also wrote: “There was no Sheraton Move”.

“The size of the dragon is unimaginable,

To the shore it swims drawn by firecrackers,

Do not let anyone be fooled,

There was no Sheraton Move,” he wrote.

Azmin and several other PKR federal lawmakers, now known as the “G10”, were among the central figures in the political crisis that culminated in a power grab earlier this year.

Their defection along with Bersatu’s departure set in motion events that caused the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration in March.

Detractors later dubbed the plot as the “Sheraton Move”, a reference to the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, where Azmin and Muhyiddin had gathered in a large celebratory event initially planned to announce a new government.

Also at the event were key leaders from Umno, PAS and Barisan Nasional component parties.

Azmin may have encapsulated what had transpired in the third and last stanza of the poem, where he stated explicitly that he and Muhyiddin “shook hands”.

He suggested in the poem that the cooperation between them was intended to “save the country”. The Bersatu leader stopped short of explaining who or what the threat was.

“Muhyiddin Yassin came from the riverbank,

Met with Azmin and shook hands,

For the sake of saving this nation,

They initiated the right move (langkah kanan),” he wrote.

Langkah kanan is a Malay expression for making the right or correct decision.