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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim announced on Wednesday (September 23) that he has obtained a “strong, formidable and convincing majority” of Members of Parliament (MPs) to form a new government.
The president of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) told a press conference that, as such, the current government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has fallen.
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“I was supposed to meet the king on Tuesday at 11am, but it was postponed because His Majesty was hospitalized,” Anwar said, adding that he had spoken with the king by phone Tuesday night.
On Tuesday night, Istana Negara said that Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had been admitted to the National Heart Institute.
When asked to reveal the list of MPs who were with him, Anwar replied that he would only reveal this after meeting the king.
“We need a strong and stable government to rule this country and save it,” he said.
Previously, Anwar had received information to replace Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who became the country’s seventh prime minister after Pakatan Harapan (PH) defeated the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the 2018 general elections.
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Anwar, who was serving a jail term for sodomy, was granted a royal pardon days after PH’s shock victory.
The transition plan from Dr. Mahathir to Mr. Anwar had been a major source of tension at PH, as the former had repeatedly refused to give a concrete timetable for when he would step aside for Mr. Anwar to take over. reins.
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (right), Anwar Ibrahim (center) and Muhyiddin Yassin leave after a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on June 1, 2018 (File Photo: Mohd RASFAN / AFP).
Dr. Mahathir resigned abruptly in February and the PH defectors later worked with BN to form the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Muhyiddin, president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), became prime minister, after the king met with all the MPs and found that Muhyiddin probably had the support of the majority of the legislators.
Dr. Mahathir and his allies were later withdrawn from Bersatu.
PH politicians have lamented PN’s political coup to seize federal power, although the COVID-19 pandemic and the movement’s control order instituted by the government to stop contagion temporarily lessened much of the political dispute.
The National Organization of United Malays, which always held the post of prime minister before the fall of BN and is now part of the PN government, has repeatedly called for general elections to be held to get rid of the impression of “back door government ”.
Muhyiddin, campaigning in the ongoing Sabah state elections, said that general elections can be called if the state coalition he formed wins the Sabah elections on September 26.
Anwar is currently facing a lawsuit filed to challenge the legality of a royal pardon he received two years ago, with the case management and trial dates set in 2021.
