Former Malaysian deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) was suspended from the country’s dominant party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), yesterday, just seven months after he was sacked from government.

The decision — made at a meeting of the UMNO supreme council yesterday — while widely expected, sends Malaysia into another political paroxysm, and has parallels with the only other time a ranking member of the country’s Cabinet has been sacked from both the government and party: The 1998 ouster of Anwar Ibrahim, a move that still divides the nation today.

At a press conference, party secretary-general and Malaysian Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that the council found that Mr Muhyiddin had breached the party’s Constitution — which specifies that the party’s deputy must aid the president in the latter’s duties.

… However, Mr Yang Razali Kassim, a Senior Fellow at RSIS, observed that Mr Najib’s supporters were downplaying the repercussions of Mr Muhyiddin’s suspension. “It is a controversial move that is bound to deepen the split in the party. The backlash will come, if not immediately, then nearer the next general election,” he said.