Mahathir Mohamad has stepped down as prime minister of Malaysia.
According to the New Straits Times, the 94 year old had submitted an official letter of resignation to the King of Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, at 1pm on February 24, 2020.
The nonagenarian has also quit his post as chairperson in his party, PPBM. These bombshells came amid a flurry of speculations of a potential shift in the Malaysian political landscape.
Hold up. What's going on?
Kenyataan Akhbar : Peletakan Jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia pic.twitter.com/naW2MajfsG — Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) February 24, 2020
To truly understand what's taking place in Malaysia, you need to travel back to 1998 when Mahathir was a prime minister during his first term. Back then, Anwar Ibrahim was Mahathir's deputy before he was sent behind bars on sodomy charges.
And then Mahathir stepped down in 2003, a year before Anwar was released from prison. Between 2004 to 2018, a lot had happened. Najib Razak becoming prime minister and Anwar leading a united opposition pact which saw the then-ruling coalition Barisan Nasional losing its two-thirds majority during the 2013 general elections.
However, interestingly, Mahathir and Anwar became allies again to take on Najib during 2018, to which they succeeded. In return, Anwar was released from prison (yes, he was imprisoned for the second time during Najib's reign) and was promised that he'll be made the eighth prime minister.
Why did Mahathir resign?
Now, Mahathir had promised to leave the post by November 2020 after numerous parties called him to keep to his pledge to Anwar.
"I made a promise to hand over and I will, accepting that I thought that a change immediately before the APEC summit would be disruptive. As far I'm concerned, I'm stepping down and I'm handing the baton to him (Anwar). If people don't want him, that is their business, but I will do my part of the promise... irrespective of whatever allegation. I made my promise, I keep my promise," Mahathir had said in December 2019, according to the Straits Times.
While it's unclear at the moment what led Mahathir to change his mind, the events that led to his decision is pretty obvious.
On February 21, the ruling coalition of Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan had held its presidential council where the matter on Mahathir stepping down was brought up during the tense meeting.
With no transition date set for the leadership, the coalition agreed to allow Mahathir remain as prime minister until November.
However, during the weekend, there was a flurry of meetings between politicians from both the divides including from PPBM, the component party of Pakatan Harapan, and several from PKR, Anwar's party.
Apparently there were talks of a new coalition being formed between several opposition parties and Mahathir's PPBM.
Pakatan Harapan collapses.
On February 24, 2020, a couple of hours of Mahathir announcing his decision to quit, PPBM called it quits on Pakatan Harapan.
Through a Facebook post, its president Muhyiddin Yassin said the party had decided to call it quits in an urgent meeting which happened during the night of February 23.
"All members of PPBM have quit Pakatan Harapan. They've signed statutory declarations to pledge their support to Mahathir as prime minister of Malaysia."
A failed coup?
Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali and Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, on the other hand, have been sacked from PKR. Azmin was Anwar's deputy in the party.
While not specifically naming Azmin, Anwar has revealed that several people within and outside his party had attempted to form a new coalition. Mahathir played no part in the failed coup.
“It was not him (Mahathir), his name was used (by) those within my party and outside. And he reiterated what he said earlier, he played no part in it. He had been clear, there is no way he will ever work with those associated with the past regime," Anwar said.
So what now?
Mahathir has appointed his deputy, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as interim prime minister. Wan Azizah is also the wife of Anwar.
If this happens, Malaysia might see itself having its first woman prime minister. Both Anwar and his wife earlier had an audience with the King of Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, for less than an hour.
Prior to these events, Pakatan Harapan had a majority of 139 seats. There are 222 seats in the Malaysian parliament with 112 needed to form a simple majority government.
With PPBM's 26 member of parliaments leaving Pakatan Harapan together with 9 others from another component party, Warisan, this leaves the coalition with 104 seats. Should Azmin and his supporters hop to the other side, the numbers could potentially drop.
This could either mean that a new coalition comes into power or Malaysia heads to snap polls.
Or we could see Mahathir returning back to the post.
Yes, again provided Mahathir agrees to return.
Following Anwar's reveal, several members of Pakatan Harapan have begun urging Mahathir to continue remaining as prime minister of Malaysia.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also Malaysia's finance minister, revealed that Mahathir had declined to work together with opposition party Umno.
Lim and several others from the coalition will be officially nominating Mahathir to remain as prime minister.
If you thought Malaysian politics is confusing. It is.
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Cover image sourced from Bangkok Post.
