The list of casualties reads like a Who's Who of Mahathir backers: the PM's close friend and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, former agriculture minister Sanusi Junid, the ex-deputy premier Ghafar Baba, former chief minister of Malacca Rahim Tamby Chik, current deputy ministers Khalid Yunus and Railey Jeffrey, and the party's veteran information chief Hussein Ahmad.