[ad_1]
Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will finally receive an audience with the king on Tuesday, a meeting that his supporters hope can lead to the culmination of his decades-long quest to lead the country.
Anwar declared last month that he had the majority support of lawmakers needed to form a new government, but an earlier meeting was postponed because the king was in poor health.
It follows months of political instability that began when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly resigned in February, causing the government to collapse. Mahathir had promised to hand over power to Anwar, his alliance partner. Amid the chaos, the king met with all 222 MPs to determine which potential leader had the majority support and appointed Muhyiddin Yassin prime minister in March.
Anwar, 73, has been on the brink of power several times during his turbulent political career, which also included nearly a decade in prison on charges that included sodomy, widely described as politically motivated.
No announcement is expected on Tuesday, when the king, who plays a primarily ceremonial role, will hear Anwar’s claims. “It can be either way,” said James Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia. “He may have the numbers, he may not have them. The crucial question is whether the king will believe him if he presents the numbers. “
The king, he added, will have to assess whether Anwar really has a majority. A legal statement of support, offered by MPs, is not legally binding, Chin added, so promises can vary from day to day.
The king cannot remove a prime minister from power, but could recommend a general election if he believes they do not have the support of the majority.
Ross Tapsell, director of the Malaysian Institute at the Australian National University, said the king appeared to have stalled in recent weeks. “[The king] he has previously favored Muhyiddin’s prime ministerial position in his March decision and therefore I think it would be quite surprising if he later annulled it, ”Tapsell said.
It was also unclear how Anwar could have gotten a sufficient number, he added.
There are doubts about Anwar’s claim to a majority, as no major party has offered a clear statement of support. One party, which is a member of the ruling coalition, has said that some of its lawmakers supported Anwar.
Some have challenged Prime Minister Muhyiddin’s legitimacy, pointing out that he did not earn his place as prime minister through the ballot box. Although his ruling coalition won the recent Sabah state elections, which were widely viewed as a referendum on his seven-month rule, he has since admitted that the election campaign contributed to a recent spike in coronavirus cases. Muhyiddin is currently in quarantine.
Malaysia is not only facing a new wave of Covid-19 infections, but also an economy that has been devastated by the pandemic.
“There are definitely people who are tired of elite politics and older men who party and apparently make decisions about what is best for their own careers, rather than having an ideological or political position that they cling to,” he said. Tapsell.
Attitudes toward Anwar, he said, have also changed significantly over the years. “The man who was once seen as the reform activist, who was putting Malaysia on a new path of pluralist politics and democracy is apparently no longer that figure. ”This is particularly the case among younger voters, he added, who increasingly see him as part of the old guard.
