Race to form Malaysian govt heats up

Mahathir emerges stronger after resignation leaves Anwar in the cold

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia－After months of resisting pressure to hand over the premiership to his named successor, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad finally quit this week. But in a confounding twist, the 94-year-old leader emerged stronger than before, while his ruling alliance, which won a historic vote about two years ago, met its Waterloo.

Malaysia's king accepted Mahathir's shock resignation on Monday. The move came in tandem with plans by Mahathir's supporters to team up with opposition parties to form a new government and foil the transition of power to Anwar Ibrahim, under an election campaign arrangement struck between the two.

But Mahathir's Bersatu party ditched the alliance, depriving it of its majority rule after 37 lawmakers left and throwing the country into political chaos.

With the political situation murky, leaders from both factions raced on Tuesday to secure support for a new government.

Leaders of the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, including former prime minister Najib Razak, who is on trial for corruption, were seen at the palace on Tuesday. Media reported that speculation was rife that the UMNO can form a government in a new coalition with a hardline Islamist party, Bersatu and two other parties on Borneo Island.

Members of Bersatu made a beeline to Mahathir's house on Tuesday morning after rejecting his resignation as party chairman. Mahathir has kept mum since the dizzying political debacle began over the weekend. Anwar and other alliance leaders said on Monday that Mahathir was not the mastermind behind the conspiracy and he had quit because he refused to work with the UMNO, which he had worked so hard to oust in 2018 polls.

The focus now is on what Mahathir, the world's oldest leader, will do next. He returned to work in his office on Tuesday morning after the king dissolved the Cabinet and appointed him as interim leader until a new government is formed.

Mahathir has kept his cards close to his chest, but what's clear is that he has the support of all sides, which can pave the way for a comeback－on a clean slate. Both Anwar's alliance and the defectors trying to grab power support Mahathir as their leader.

"No question he has emerged as more in command than before. Every party has pledged to work with him," said Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia.

"This can be seen as strategy, but it is important not to forget that this whole debacle reflects poorly on him as leader and also does Malaysia no favors. My own view is that this may be a case of a strategy going wrong and hijacked, which he is working to resolve."

Political comeback

This was Mahathir's second stint as prime minister.

Mahathir made a political comeback amid anger over a massive graft scandal involving the 1MDB investment fund that sparked investigations around the globe. Mahathir and Anwar buried their hatchet to form a political pact that ousted Najib's coalition, which had been in power since independence from Britain in 1957.

Anwar couldn't participate in the 2018 polls because he was behind bars for a sodomy conviction that he said was politically motivated. But he was freed and pardoned after the alliance won power.

Mahathir initially said he expected to stay as prime minister for two years to clean up the government, but he has refused consistently to set a firm timeline.

The weekend political drama broke out just after the alliance agreed on Friday to give Mahathir the liberty to decide when he would step down.

"It's a tactical move to allow him maximum flexibility to form a new government," said James Chin, head of the Asia Institute at Australia's University of Tasmania.

"He had to resign so that the entire government is no more. This allows him to set up a new coalition without any baggage from the old coalition. He will have a free hand to pick and choose."

Agencies - Xinhua