
A is for Anwar Ibrahim. He is now the 10th PM of Malaysia and his first job is to form the cabinet of the new unity government. Partiularly, he has to find a compromise that satisfies his old allies of choice and his new allies of convenience (or duty, to put it positively).. What will this mean for all the hopes of his base, particularly their ‘no compromise on corruption’ and ‘the Malaysia for all’ aspirations. Whatever the outcome, Anwar Ibrahim is now the leader of a larger coalition than he started with and this logically means a degree of detachment from the community that brought him to the Prime Minesterial role. The pertinent question is – how far he will rise above his base?
Update 17. 12.2022: Some quarters are now suggesting that Anwar Ibrahim’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)signed with his Unity Government supporters on the eve of the vote of confidence on his new government, is a prelude to a new Malaysian Autocracy! The MOA allegedly contains a condition that misconstrues Article 49A of the Federal constitution as it refers to it as the basis for a clause that requires government MPs to vacate their seat if they vote against the prime minister. On the other hand one cannot but sympathize with the new PM in his desperate need to restrain Malaysian parliaments inherently amphibious condition – its tendency towards Katakcracy!
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