KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday said it is “very unlikely” that the current government will last until the next election, even as his coalition lacks a simple majority in Parliament.

“If the current government actually had the confidence, they would have conducted the affairs of Parliament in a more usual manner,” Datuk Seri Anwar said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “They did not.”

“And clearly they were fearful of the success – or possibility of success – of the vote of no-confidence. So the issue of the legitimacy of the government is in question now,” he added.

Meanwhile, his Pakatan Harapan coalition and its allies will focus on ensuring their 107 lawmakers, of the total 222, remain intact, he added.

The country is set to hold its next election by 2023.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin avoided a challenge to his power on Monday, during the first parliamentary sitting since he took power, scheduling only a single day to accommodate a formal speech from the country’s King.

That left no time for the opposition to start a motion of no-confidence against Tan Sri Muhyiddin, who rose to power in March after a week-long political crisis.

In the Bloomberg interview, Mr Anwar avoided answering a question on whether he would be the opposition coalition’s choice for prime minister instead of former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

“It’s not about personalities here,” said Mr Anwar, who has long waited to take the reins as prime minister from Tun Dr Mahathir – in the 1990s and again after the pair joined forces for a shock election win in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform.

Disagreement over a timeline for the transition helped bring down the coalition in February, with Dr Mahathir’s abrupt resignation setting off a power struggle that saw Mr Muhyiddin emerge as the surprise victor.

LEGITIMACY IN QUESTION

And clearly they were fearful of the success – or possibility of success – of the vote of no-confidence. So the issue of the legitimacy of the government is in question now.

OPPOSITION LEADER ANWAR IBRAHIM, on the current Malaysian government.

Longtime rivals Mr Anwar and Dr Mahathir have since reunited again, releasing a joint statement on May 9 to say “it’s time” to restore the election mandate they won in 2018.

The truce looks fragile, however. Although Mr Anwar is the formal leader of the coalition, he skipped a Monday briefing that Dr Mahathir held after the Parliament sitting in which the former premier spoke on behalf of the bloc.

BLOOMBERG

Source: Read Full Article