Former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin or Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah must openly challenge Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to bring about change, an analyst said today

Speaking to Malaysiakini , Ideas think-tank executive director Wan Saiful Wan Jan said otherwise nothing will ever happen in the country.

"Muhyiddin or Ku Li needs to step up to say they want to challenge Najib.

"If no one does that, it's a no starter," he said.

He was commenting on how yesterday's coming together of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin, Razaleigh, Mohd Shafie Apdal, and Ong Tee Keat would change the tide of the battle against Najib.

Among the subjects broached yesterday was a vote of no-confidence against Najib.

Razaleigh pointed out that such an attempt would be futile because Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia would not let it be tabled.

However, in a hypothetical situation that such a motion is allowed, Wan Saiful said yesterday's press conference alone would not have that much of an impact on BN lawmakers.

"The press conference would be a factor (in a no-confidence vote), but on its own it has no impact.

"It really depends on whether Ku Li, Muhyiddin, and Shafie and the other BN MPs are talking to each other," he said.

The BN rebels he said, need to come up with a plan and ensure they have the numbers to boot Najib out.

Vote against Budget

Fellow analyst Penang Institute fellow Wong Chin Huat, however, said there is a simpler solution to get rid of Najib.

Instead of a vote of no-confidence, he proposed a parliamentary caucus among Umno MPs.

"Since Umno has 88 lawmakers, they just need about 50 members to go against Najib to get rid of him," Wong revealed to Malaysiakini .

He also said that parliament can boot Najib out by voting against Budget 2016 when it is tabled which would be as good as a no-confidence vote.

Najib, he said, will then have no choice but to step down or to ask the King to dissolve Parliament.

"But the Agong doesn't have to listen to Najib's advice," he said.