🇲🇾 Moves are afoot in Malaysia (by way of Dubai)

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Did Malaysia almost have another parliamentary coup while I was busy falling in love with Hard Solo and being shuttled between various family members' homes? Yes. Of course it did! As if Malaysia was going to let the year go by without anything exciting. 

So, let’s take a look at what happened — or at least, what people think might’ve happened — and what could be next for the year. There’s not a whole lot out of Singapore over the last few weeks so we’ll skip it this week since there’s just so much to get across over the Causeway. 

See you tomorrow,

Erin Cook

Does this look like the face of a man who is bothered?

You know it’s a shadowy plot when the Wayang Kulit references come out. 

This is what has (allegedly!) occurred. Back in December figures from the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional are said to have met in Dubai to chat about ways to pull down the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Harapan government. Initially, this appeared to be fuelled by internet chatter but, according to this great play-by-play from Aqil Haziq Mahmud in Channel News Asia, got new legs when it was confirmed by deputy director-general of the government’s community communications department Ismail Yusop. Ismail popped up online to say a meeting had indeed taken place with attendees divvying up tasks to push the government off a cliff. 

Ismail pointed squarely at Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, as well as other members of the opposition coalition. “There are spokespeople with access to opposition leaders who are going around the whole country, including in Sabah and Sarawak, to ensure that in early 2024, the Madani government will fall within a specified deadline,” Ismail wrote in an online statement, using a term for the Anwar government that I’ve literally never heard before and had to google. (Policy imperatives! Not in these pages!)

The following day, Dec. 30, Ismail was quoted in the Berita Harian newspaper saying that gentlemen who go by ‘Tun’ — the honorific widely used to refer to Mahathir — were involved and were looking to use “foreign and local resources” to get it done. And that’s when everything went bananas. 

Mahathir had nothing to do with it, the former prime minister and constant thorn in the side of Anwar said last week. He hasn’t even been in bloody Dubai for ages, he said on Twitter as per Channel News Asia. 

It’s a ‘speciality’ of Anwar anyway, Mahathir added. The Prime Minister was involved in two previous government toppling attempts back in 2008 and 2014 and, according to MM, those were considered fine by Anwar because it was about getting him into power: “When these strategies were being used, they were not considered to be rebellious, a form of betrayal, or likely to destabilise the government, damage the economy, or violate democratic principles.”

The PM is, however, not bothered. “I want to tell Tun [Mahathir ] to take care of his health,” he said in Kuala Lumpur shortly after Mahathir’s comments were made, as reported by Malaysiakini. As always, it is worth reiterating that Mahathir is turning an impressive 99-year-old in just over six months. But, if that’s Anwar’s best comeback he ought to hire a couple of writers.

No, really, he wasn’t involved at all, says Mahathir ally Khairuddin Abu Hassan. How could he be, if nothing actually happened at all? “We don't know anything about this Dubai Move, which does not exist and was conjured up for the Umno president's political agenda. How to accuse Tun M [Mahathir] of being involved when such a scheme does not exist in the first place? The Dubai Move is a figment of wild imagination without any basis. It is a fairy tale spun to strengthen the Umno president's position," he told Malaysiakini last week. 

The Prime Minister’s office wants the police to handle it. Senior political secretary to Anwar, Shamsul Iskandar Akin announced on Monday that he’d filed a complaint with the police over the plot saying it was a threat to national security: “The ‘Dubai Move’ is an action that not only threatens the parliamentary democratic system, but is also pointless due to the anti-hopping law,” he said, as reported by FMT. Similar reports by PKR Youth, the youth wing of Anwar’s party, have been filed across the country, he added. 

Interestingly, Malaysia’s current king, Abdullah of Pahang, is not keen on becoming involved. Since taking the throne in 2019 he has been unusually involved in politicking, especially in 2020 and again in 2022 when Anwar formed government. Anwar swung by for his semi-regular audience yesterday and confirmed he has the king’s continued support. It follows rumours that Abdullah had said he’d see dissenting MPs, a claim that has since been dismissed. 

I think it may be some time yet before we learn what’s happened here, if at all. But that does underline the fragility of the current political balance where the governing coalition itself is a messy combination, the opposition is strong and getting stronger AND the electorate isn’t wholly convinced of any of it so is neither surprised nor alarmed by such reports. Maybe a messier year ahead in Malaysia than I expected!