COMMENT | Ever since Muhyiddin Yassin topped the vice-presidential sweepstakes in the Umno polls of 1993, he has had his eyes firmly fixed on becoming prime minister of Malaysia.

That year he caused a major surprise by beating Najib Abdul Razak to the top slot in the VP line-up.

Cabinet minister Najib, Johor Menteri Besar Muhyiddin and Selangor MB Muhammad Muhd Taib were the Wawasan candidates for the veep slots.

The Wawasan (Vision) trio was allied to then party deputy president Anwar Ibrahim.

They were regarded as shoo-ins for the posts; only the particular order of their eventual ranking was in doubt.

The findings of a pre-election survey of the delegates to the party’s elective assembly conducted by Mansor Othman, the incumbent Nibong Tebal MP who was then a Universiti Sains Malaysia academic associated with Anwar, were conveyed to the three contestants a couple of weeks before the conclave.

It had Muhyiddin topping the survey, with Najib in second place, and Muhd Taib third.

The survey turned out to be remarkably accurate.

Its lasting residue was that henceforth you could not put it out of Muhyiddin’s mind that the premiership was the coveted goal of his...