Scratch record, freeze frame. How did we get here you ask? It all started with a split in the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) camp with one team consist of Anwar Ibrahim supporters and the other Azmin Ali supporters. This conflict has been going on for some time now, ever since the failed Kajang move to install Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah to be Selangor’s MB while Anwar was still incarcerated. In the end, Azmin Ali’s camp managed to snag that prized MB post in the country’s most developed state.
After successfully ousting Najib and his Barisan Nasional (BN) party after 61 years in power, Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) led a precarious 22 months in charge of the country. Despite a slew of reforms aimed to mend the economy, democracy, judiciary and education, the nation was mired in one racially-charged controversies after another. These issues are usually highlighted by the opposition and race and religion supremacist, accusing the government of failing to protect the Malays and in conjunction the muslims. From what? Usually chinese (read DAP) bogeyman or other races hellbent on harming them whether economically (Chinese-owned businesses) or physically (drunk drivers, Indian mobs). Of course, none of those are remotely true but the opposition and race supremacist had managed to instill a climate of fear and distrust among the ethnic malays.
Part of the main promise of PH’s election manifesto was the smooth transition of power of Mahathir’s premiership to Anwar. While Mahathir keep insisting he will handover the leadership to Anwar when the time arrives and he’s finished with all his goals, Anwar’s team pressed for a clearer transition date, not something vague as after the APEC summit in November. This culminated in a tense PH presidential council meeting which ended strangely enough with everybody agreeing to Mahathir setting his own transition date.
Fast forward Sunday, 23rd February 2020. Azmin led a gathering of 11 rogue PKR MPs with a number of Bersatu, BN, PAS, GPS and Warisan MPS at Sheraton Hotel, Petaling Jaya. Their mission: to orchestrate ta political manoeuvre to oust the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and replace it with a new coalition dubbed Perikatan Nasional.
The next day, Mahathir stunned the country by announcing his resignation as prime minister and shortly after resigned as the chairman of his Bersatu party as well. Sources said he was upset by accusations that he was now willing to work with UMNO leaders, some who are on trial for corruption charges. Almost immediately, Bersatu president, Muhyiddin Yassin declared that his party has pulled out of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, effectively bringing down the government when they lost 26 of their MPs. After meeting the king, Mahathir was reappointed as interim prime minister until a successor is named. Cabinet was automatically dissolved.
February 25th, the palace says the king will meet and interview all 222 MPs before deciding on the next step. Some come in flashy Mercedes, others show up by bus in show of solidarity or humility? The next day Mahathir addresses the country in his first comment after resigning. He apologised for the political turmoil brought about by his decision. He then proposed a unity government that is not aligned with any political party. UMNO and PAS rejected this unity government idea and called for a snap election. PH leadership released a statement claiming that they tried to bring Mahathir to discuss the future of the coalition but the interim prime minister declined to meet them. Later they also rejected the proposed unity government and nominated Anwar as their own prime minister candidate instead. On surface, Mahathir and Anwar set to lock horns again.
February 27th, Mahathir meets the king and later tells a news conference that the king’s decision is to call a special session of Parliament on March 2 to see who has majority support to become prime minister. Mahathir says there will be snap elections if nobody gets majority support. Immediately political leaders and observers are doubting Mahathir’s comments and the constitutionality of the process he described. Anwar said Mahathir’s called for a parliamentary session to elect a new PM is a challenge to the rights and powers of the monarch. The palace offers no comment to date.
February 28th, the speaker in Parliament rejects Mahathir’s request for a special session on March 2 without a decree from the king. The king later announced that after meeting all lawmakers, the palace says the monarch does not have confidence that any parliamentarian has majority support to form a new government. He also declared there will be no special parliamentary sitting but will continue to engage with political leaders to see if any one can command the majority to be prime minister. Bersatu party nominates Muhyiddin as its prime minister backed by UMNO and PAS. Several party leaders from both camps and also from Sarawak’s GPS were seen entering the palace to meet the king.
The next day, PH leaders managed to get Mahathir to sit together to discuss the political impasse and the way ahead for the coalition. In the end they agrees to back Mahathir as prime minister again with Anwar ready to bid his time. Mahathir is now confident he has got the numbers to garner majority support. Later in the afternoon, the king names Muhyiddin Yassin as next prime minister on grounds that he possibly has the majority support among lawmakers in parliament. He was to be sworn in the next morning. In the evening, Anwar claims that Harapan has the majority in parliament with 114 lawmakers backing Mahathir as a candidate. Mahathir says he plans to inform the king in a letter of the support he has. By now it was clear that the Sarawak political parties coalition, GPS had thrown their support behind Muhyiddin’s camp. While Sabah's Warisan party still back Mahathir, GPS 18 MPs easily outnumber them and convince the king to install Muhyiddin.
March 1st. Mahathir promises to seek an urgent parliament sitting to challenge Muhyddin’s support. He also conceded that the king would no longer see him. Muhyiddin was sworn in as the 8th prime minister later that morning. PH now revised the numbers of MPs supporting the coalition to just 112. With Muhyiddin now in the grasp of power, there’s no guarantee Mahathir or PH will not lose further support from MPs backing them in parliament especially since the parliament will not resume until March 9th. Malaysia braces itself for a conservative ethnographic-religious-supremacist government.
Written with sources from Malaysiakini.com
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