How Pakatan lost half its states, after prematurely ceding federal power in the 2020 political crisis
Ida Lim, Malay Mail Online
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition made an unimaginable sweep of state seats in the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9, 2018, and wielded control over eight out of 12 states up for grabs by the time the dust had settled.
With Sarawak’s state elections held separately from the rest of the nation, PH in the 2018 elections cruised to an easy victory over its main rival Barisan Nasional (BN) in the states of Selangor and Penang, and took over Negri Sembilan, Johor and Melaka, with the situation in Perak, Kedah and Sabah initially uncertain before coming under PH after some realignment of political camps.
But as of last weekend, PH has lost half of the state governments under its rule, which essentially feels like a wipeout of the unprecedented achievement by a federal Opposition coalition that had turned into the ruling coalition in the historic 2018 polls.
Here’s a recap by Malay Mail of how this came to be:
1. Prelude to the fall
On February 23 (Sunday), rumours of a new federal government under a new coalition involving the PKR deputy president at that time, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, and PH component party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) as well as other parties such as PH foes, BN and PAS, went into overdrive.
The day was capped off with a meeting involving Azmin’s faction and new allies at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, the same location where PH had announced its victory less than two years ago. This event eventually became known as the “Sheraton Move“.
In a chain of subsequent events, the 2020 political crisis eventually saw the PH coalition losing federal power and becoming the federal Opposition, with a new prime minister from the new ruling pact sworn in on March 1 (Sunday). All in a matter of just one week.
Key to the collapse of the PH federal government was PPBM pulling out of the coalition, which caused it to lose the parliamentary majority required to stay in power. With PPBM out, PH was reduced to just PKR, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara, while Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was prime minister had also quit and became an interim prime minister.
On March 1, PPBM’s Tan Sri Muhyiddin became prime minister under the new pact of Perikatan Nasional (PN) composed of PPBM, Azmin’s faction that was no longer part of PKR, Umno, MCA, MIC, PAS and also Sarawak’s ruling state coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
From then on, it became a game of numbers in the state governments where the PH coalition did not have a strong majority. One after another, state governments slipped out of PH’s hold when elected lawmakers started defecting and switching party loyalties amid the PPBM pullout that precipitated changes in the political landscape.
