Political changes in Malaysia after the elections
2022.11.20 06:07
Political changes in Malaysia after the elections
Budrigannews.com – Malaysia’s political leaders scrambled Sunday to secure support from rivals the day after the general election, and the coalition did not win a parliamentary majority.
Long-time opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former prime minister Muhiddin Yassin each agreed to form a government with support from other political parties they did not identify with.
The instability reflects the political transformation of the most stable country in the region, which for decades had its share of military coups, violent political turmoil and insurgency.
Saturday’s election further weakened the power that dominated politics from independence in 1957 to 2018, benefiting Islamist parties seeking Sharia law.
Forming a government may require the involvement of a Malaysian king, whose main ceremonial role is to ensure that the coalition does not allow it to do so alone.
The Palace on Sunday instructed the parties to present the names of each of the mps they believe will have a majority by 2pm (0600GMT) on Monday.
Anwar’s Pakatan-Harapan coalition won 82 seats, down from 112 but slightly above the 73 seats of the Muhiddin Yassin coalition.
The Barisan Nasional Alliance of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Jacob, Malaysia’s long・time dominant political force, the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), suffered its worst defeat in the election to date, winning 178 of the 30 seats.
As voters rejected UMNO and the multiethnic Barisan Coalition, Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional coalition attracted support from the traditional foundations of Barisan in the first national contest.
“More departments”
“I think what we’ve learned here is that the country is more divided,” said Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, deputy managing director of political risk consultant bowergroupasia.
“Perikatan Nasional UMNO’s foray into the voting bank shows that there are three legitimate coalitions in the future of Malaysian politics.”
The fight against UMNO he once led, Mahathir Mohammad, 97, and Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, lost his seat in the defeat of his first election in 53 years.
The main winner in this election was the Islamist PAS party of the Pelikatan Union, which secured the largest seats in the Single Party. In Malaysia, race and religion are divisive issues, with mainly Muslim Malays making up the majority of the population and significant Chinese and Indian minorities.
The small political bloc, based in Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, is seeking greater autonomy and will play a decisive role if allied with the coalition.
Muhyiddin said he was meeting with the leaders of Sarawak state and discussing with other parties on forming the government.
If Anwar should become Prime Minister, he says the accusations of sodomy and corruption were politically motivated, in a leading opposition figure for politicians who 25 years later became prisoners convicted of sodomy from Mahathir’s heirs.
After being released from prison in 2018, he joined Muhyiddin and leader-turned-foe-turned-ally Mahathir Mohamad to defeat Barisan in public anger at the government over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, ending its sixty-year rule.
That coalition collapsed 22 months later due to infighting over Mahathir’s promise to hand over the prime minister to Anwar.
Muhiddin was briefly Prime minister, but his government collapsed last year, paving the way for Barisan’s return to power with Ismael at the helm.
