Anwar-Mahathir countercoup hits a wall in Malaysia
“They don’t really care about their reform agenda anymore. The opposition is very much divided. They cannot figure out who’s going to be their candidate for prime minister”
Nile Bowie, Asia Times
Nearly four months after losing power in a backroom political maneuver, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition’s efforts to reclaim the electoral mandate it won at historic 2018 elections have hit a wall.
An impasse over who should lead a potential new government if PH is able to resume control through defections in parliament has brought the political alliance’s many fault lines into clear view.
Intrigue and ambiguity over a tacit agreement for then-premier Mahathir Mohamad to hand power to his former deputy and rival Anwar Ibrahim pervaded the multi-racial coalition’s 22 months in power, a factor that analysts say contributed to its dramatic collapse in February.
PH’s quest to return to federal power and unseat Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s ethno-nationalist Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition is now in disarray over a failure by its component parties and allies to reach a consensus over their candidate for the premiership.
The impasse comes amid talk of a snap general election being called as early as this year, wherein PN would seek to win an electoral mandate and silence PH criticism that Muhyiddin’s government lacks democratic legitimacy.
