Unchartered political era with coalition of the willing
Malaysian politics is witnessing changes that may impact the way the parties and the politicians behave.
It was ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who started the ball rolling after his resignation in February.
After losing support of his party, the Bersatu, he made a call for MPs from all parties to join a coalition of the willing.
It did not materialise and a loose coalition of parties from the opposition joined with Bersatu and breaking away PKR members to form the new government.
Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader of Malaysia, is now saying he controls a majority in Parliament.
This has shaken the loose alliance in power. PM Muhyiddin Yassin may become the shortest ruling PM in Malaysian history.
Mahathir wanted a majority Malay ruling coalition after the fall of the Pakatan Harapan. During his tenure as PM, his calls for a mega-Malay party also failed to materialise.
This has now snowballed into Anwar Ibrahim getting support from MPs from Umno and other parties.
This support is said to be mostly from Malay MPs. Anwar is bound to form a majority Malay coalition, instead.
NOT A PH-UMNO COALITION
What does this entail is that Malaysia is moving into a new dawn. If Anwar succeeds with this plan, he will lead a new regime where reformists and a loose coalition of MPs will form a government.
There will be questions on the legitimacy of the regime but with the PH finally back in Putrajaya, the detractors will be silenced.
The configuration Anwar is proposing is unexpected. However, lets look at the Parliament born after the general elections in 2018.
The solution offered by Anwar Ibrahim seems the only plausible one. It is the only way a large majority of MPs could be united. They could form a strong government that could withstand the vagaries of time.
Anwar and the PH as well as those willing to change Malaysia for the better would not want this to fail. They would not want to create something that will not work.
In this scenario, we believe such a coalition could also withstand the forces that will constitute the new opposition.
The PAS and some Umno MPs might proceed with the Muafakat Nasional and go into opposition.
Whether Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad joins them in opposition or forms another opposition block is another question. He may also opt to join Anwar’s new coalition.
A country like Malaysia with 222 MPs in Parliament needs a government with a strong majority.
This will prevent the downfall of the regime and will inspire confidence in the government.
This is why the Umno-BN was in power for six decades. They had a large majority, even after the PH robbed them of the two third margin in parliament.
SHAKY PH
But after the PH came to power with a slim majority, it paved the way to political instability.
The government was shaky and the Parliament was exposing the weaknesses of a regime with a slim majority.
Dr Mahathir made references to the PH not being able to bring about reforms without a solid majority on its side.
It could not rope in the MPs from the other side to vote in favour of crucial reforms, thus it did not pursue such reforms.
The other problem Dr Mahathir faced was the pressure from the Malay MPs in Parliament.
The majority of Malay MPs were in the opposition ranks, not in the powerful ruling side of the aisle.
This altogether gave way to speculations and manipulations leading to the fall of Mahathir as PM after his abrupt resignation in February.
With the coalition, Anwar intends to give a chance to the majority of Malay MPs and to his coalition to work together.