Whatever coalition emerges, it must soon learn to govern without depending on Mahathir Mohamad
WHEN MAHATHIR MOHAMAD woke up on February 24th, he was Malaysia’s prime minister. The governing coalition, Pakatan Harapan, controlled 129 of the 222 seats in the lower house of parliament. But political plotting soon upended everything. By the afternoon Dr Mahathir had resigned both as head of the government and as chairman of his party, Bersatu. By the evening, he was back in office, as interim prime minister.
Dr Mahathir did not always find UMNO so repulsive. Indeed, in his first spell as prime minister, between 1981 and 2003, he led the party. Horrified by corruption in a subsequent UMNO administration, however, he formed Bersatu ahead of an election in May 2018. Allied with PKR, the DAP and Amanah, an Islamic party, Dr Mahathir engineered the first change in control of Malaysia’s parliament. Pakatan Harapan defeated UMNO, which had been in charge for 61 years—ever since independence from Britain.
The cluster of parties in Pakatan Harapan thought that, despite their differences, they could rule effectively together. But tensions rose as Malay voters turned away from the government. Shortly after the coalition won power, 63% of Malays thought the country was “going in the right direction”, according to the Merdeka Center, a pollster. Within two years that share had plummeted to 24%.
For Mr Anwar, too, the outcome may not be rosy. He joined forces with Dr Mahathir on the understanding that he would take over as prime minister within two years. Dr Mahathir later called that merely “a suggestion” and then declared he would not go until after a summit for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ends in November. The pair have had a fraught relationship for decades.
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