The 'long knives' may be out for Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, as party stalwarts question his continued sniping of president Najib Abdul Razak.

Umno has largely turned a blind eye to its deputy Muhyiddin who has been speaking out against the current Najib-led administration ever since he was axed as deputy prime minister.

However, it seems his latest speech criticising Najib in Pagoh yesterday, might just be the straw that will break the camel's back.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak, who is also a Sabah Umno leader, said if Muhyiddin can't be a team player then something has to give.

"I would like to think that it was a speech taken out of context.

"But if it wasn’t and the intention was indeed to discredit his president’s leadership, then he lacks the quality of being a team player and a decision needs to be made by either him or the party to stop all speculation about his stand once and for all," Salleh wrote in his blog today.

An indication perhaps, that a move to oust Muhyiddin from Umno may be on the horizon.

Suffocated by politics

As reported by Sinar Harian today, while speaking in his constituency of Pagoh, Muhyiddin had said that Malaysian politics had become suffocating, and this could lead to national disunity.

“Our internal political problems include corruption and the economic downturn, where the people become victims and are made to pay the price,” Muhyiddin was also quoted as saying by the Malay daily.

He added that Malaysia’s world standing was also unstable due to the country’s leadership crisis.

“Our country's status is threatened because of issues involving the leaders," Muhyiddin said.

This, he argued, caused foreign investors to be overly cautious when considering whether or not to invest in Malaysia.

Najib had removed Muhyiddin from the cabinet last July for speaking out on the alleged financial improprieties in government investment arm 1MDB.

The Umno president however extended an olive branch to his disenfranchised deputy during the party annual general meeting in December last year, which Muhyiddin appeared to accept.

Muhyiddin however then said he still wished to see how Najib would tackle the concerns he had raised.

As scandal after scandal erupted, Najib has been on a warpath, culling out those who have been critical of him, including ministers, menteri besars, and grassroots leaders.