Analysts: PM Anwar will

need guile and charm to

keep cloak-and-dagger
moves at bay
R. Loheswar
Tue, 29 November 2022 at 7:00 am

Malay Mail
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will need to tap
all his reputed political shrewdness and charm to hold together the
political parties making up his national unity government, said analysts.
While saying Anwar’s planned vote of confidence would dispel doubt
about his support among lawmakers, the analysts insisted that this was
no guarantee Pakatan Harapan’s newfound allies would stay the course
for the full term.
Political analysts Professor Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid said Anwar would
need to find ways to accommodate Barisan Nasional on his side of the
aisle and do so without compromising himself and the PH coalition.
“For example, while his tough stance towards corruption is well
chronicled, there still lies the potential danger of compromising sublime
principles in exchange for parliamentary support as the realities of
governing a coalition-based administration and the trappings of power
set in.
“In Anwar’s rhetoric, he himself had often caricatured his Umno rivals as
robbers, bandits, et cetera. Will he continue to do so now?” Ahmad Fauzi
said.
As for PH, he said it would likely need to consider Umno’s Malay
nationalist ideology when prioritising reforms to attempt, saying those of
common interest should be the baby steps in their unlikely cooperation.
PH should also avoid more controversial aims from its previous time in
power, such as recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) or
ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun said
Anwar would need to actively keep BN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, and
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah lawmakers content as their coalitions were not
locked to his coalition government.
“There is frankly nothing systematic that could prevent such political
moves. Anwar could announce his Cabinet list soonest, composed of the
leaders of his coalition parties’ leaders, in order to appease them,” he
said when contacted.
While the coalitions backing PH chairman Anwar to be the prime minister
did so en bloc, the support among their elected representatives was not
universal.
Some, such as Umno’s Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, initially said
he would rather be expelled than to cooperate with PH while former
prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob also suggested he would
have preferred to work with Perikatan Nasional.
PH won 82 seats in the 15th general election while second-placed PN
took 73, but both were short of the 112 needed for a simple majority
victory on their own.
The pockets of discontent within BN, in particular, triggered rumours of a
conspiracy to oust the PH government when some of the coalition’s
leaders were seen gathering at a golf resort in Petaling Jaya, eliciting
fears of another “Sheraton Move”.
Senior Fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research Azmi
Hassan said one way to prevent such rumours was to formalise the
cooperation between PH, BN, GPS, and GRS in a legally-binding
agreement.
“It needs to be in black and white, on paper; if not, any scenario where
leaders are mentioned meeting in various places will be construed as
them trying to create a new political bloc,” Amzi said when contacted.
“We could follow Canada’s example when they gave Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau a few years to manage the minority government to
ensure the country is run smoothly. So, a similar agreement here could
work and until that time they feel like pulling out they can do so.”
Research fellow from the Institute of Malaysian & International Studies
(IKMAS) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Muhamad Azwan
Abd Rahman, said Anwar must waste no time in bringing his coalition
partners into his new administration.
“The prime minister also urgently needs to form and announce an
inclusive Cabinet before the vote of confidence scheduled on December
19 and to appoint a deputy prime minister who represents the
importance of the bloc and regionality.
“It must be announced quickly to strengthen the coalition consensus and
create a well-bonded and coherence among core leaders and followers
in this coalition government.”
Decisive action in these three areas will “silence” further rumours of
conspiracies and allow the Anwar administration to concentrate on
governing effectively, he said.
With the support of the other coalitions aside from PN, Anwar has a
majority of 140 seats out of the 222 in Parliament.
Following days of negotiations after GE15, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-
Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah announced Anwar
as the next prime minister at the head of a national unity government.
Anwar had left the door open for PN to also join this national unity
government but PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin declined and
said his coalition preferred to serve as the Opposition in order to be a
check-and-balance to the new administration.