BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) partners which have in the past months grown increasingly frustrated with Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's attempt to break up the ruling coalition today rallied behind the appointment of his rivals to more senior positions in the government.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today appointed Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the deputy prime minister, bypassing Zahid and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan who are more senior than Ismail in the party hierarchy. Ismail is an Umno vice-president...