🇲🇾 So you want to be on top?

Hello friends!

Short, quick and absolutely loaded with links today as we watch Istana and wait to see who Malaysia’s next prime minister will be. 

The plan below is to get bewildered outsiders up to date on what exactly is happening and why, but I can’t help but let my own views come through. This happened sort of — we have far fewer political parties — in my country over a few years and it is so frustrating watching your country go stagnant as a couple of hundred people get involved in drama. And the pandemic is only adding another layer of mess to it all. 

That said, I’d love to welcome any Malaysian readers to let us know what they think in the comments! 

I will be back with an update on Monday,

Erin Cook

Muhyiddin Yassin is out along with his cabinet and the king, Sultan Abdullah, is tasked with appointing the new prime minister. That’s expected later today after meeting with the other rulers, but in the meantime, he’s told the party leaders to knock it off with the bickering and get it together. 

The Associated Press reports that he has firmly rejected a fresh general election citing the ongoing pandemic. This is a particularly salient point for Malaysia where the Sabah elections are typically considered the beginning of a fresh wave of cases last year.

Muhyiddin is currently the caretaker PM while the would-bes vie for the King’s favour. In the last day or so, it seems Ismail Sabri Yakoob has edged out Anwar Ibrahim and is the hot favourite to lead.

So who is Ismail Sabri? Last month, the UMNO lawmaker and Defence Minister was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by a desperate Muhyiddin looking to solidify the party’s backing. 

"This appointment will be able to assist the prime minister in managing the country's administration and fulfil the people's needs at a time when the country is facing a health and economic crisis,” said in a statement, quoted by Channel News Asia, at the time.  

The new gig seemed to be the first firm evidence the governing Perikatan Nasional coalition was wavering, but if anything it appears to have further split UMNO (as discussed last week via that fantastic Shannon Teoh piece.) Nothing like playing the game back to the top to bring the party back together though, I’m sure. 

I’m truly staggered by this. The cynical politicking of Malaysia’s representatives has led the country to the truly bizarre point of near-certainty having the party ousted by people who believed in Malaysia Baharu returned — without the say of any constituent at all. Meanwhile, people are dying or being arrested for mourning them.

It’s a waiting game more than a guessing game. UMNO MP Ahmad Maslan wrote on Twitter that Ismail Sabri enjoys the support of 114 MPs, more than half of the 222 MPs who make up parliament, as reported by Reuters.

That 114 reportedly includes the Perikatan Nasional coalition helmed by Muhyiddin Yassin. His only qualm is the support would be conditional on no MPs facing criminal charges be appointed to the cabinet. Still deeply wild to me that Najib Razak is even an MP while facing his 1MDB charges. 

For a minute there, it looked like this might be Anwar Ibrahim’s closest moment since the Sheraton Move with other opposition MPs, including Mahathir Mohamad, conceding support if he were to be victorious. Hardly a ringing endorsement from the ex-Prime Minister! 

But it all depends on what the rulers have to say. This from Reuters’ Rozanna Latiff, one of my fave reporters on Malaysia, is the read I’ve been begging for. The position the King has been put in here is without precedent in Malaysia. So what does that mean for the future of the monarch institution? 

So, there’s the MPs and the King, but what do the people say? My friend Lainie puts it bluntly: