In the past, such was UMNO’s status as Malaysia’s unrivalled political force that when its party general assemblies were held, the nation’s attention – and indeed that of Malaysia-watchers around the region – would be fixed on it.

Set up as the political vehicle for Malay nationalists in 1946, UMNO, or the United Malays National Organisation, governed for decades as a member of a broader, multiracial Barisan Nasional alliance. Still, everyone knew who really called the shots – as UMNO went, so did the country.