Malaysian opposition leader Anwar says current government is 'fearful'
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Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Harapan coalition will focus on ensuring that its 107 lawmakers, of the total 222, remain intact.
PHOTO: REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says it is "very unlikely" 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 an interview with Bloomberg Television's Ms Haslinda Amin. "They did not."
"And clearly they were fearful of the success - of 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 will focus on ensuring that its 107 lawmakers, of the total 222, remain intact, he added. The country is set to hold its next election before or in September 2023.
Malaysia avoided a challenge to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin during the first parliamentary sitting since he took power, scheduling only a single day to accommodate a formal speech from the 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 Tuesday (May 19) interview, Mr Anwar avoided answering whether he would be the opposition coalition's choice for prime minister instead of former leader Mahathir Mohamad. "It's not about personalities here," he said.
Mr Anwar has long waited to take the reins as prime minister from Tun Dr Mahathir, both 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.
Long-time rivals Anwar and Mahathir have since reunited, 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: Although Mr Anwar is the formal leader of the coalition, he skipped a briefing that Dr Mahathir held after the Parliament's sitting in which the former premier spoke on behalf of the bloc.
