94-year-old plotting comeback Malaysia
When Mahathir Mohamad returned in triumph as prime minister of Malaysia two years ago it was the climax of a story almost too unlikely to be believed.
For a start he was 92, making him the world’s oldest leader. He had been prime minister before and retired at the age of 78. Most bizarre of all, his return was made possible by an alliance with the man who had gone from being his friend to his great enemy: Anwar Ibrahim.
Yet in the past fortnight even the sensational events of 2018 have been eclipsed in a drama that has Malaysians struggling to keep up. Within a few days last month Dr Mahathir, now 94, was propelled from office, his coalition government collapsed and his party split.
His fall has brought back into power the party that he formerly led and against which he turned. It may even be the salvation of his successor as prime minister: Najib Razak, a man facing trial on a multibillion-dollar fraud. The story begins in the closing years of the last century when Mahathir, during his first period as prime minister, suddenly sacked Anwar, who is now 72. The younger man had been his deputy; suddenly Mahathir was accusing him of being an adulterer, a promiscuous bisexual and, it was hinted, a CIA agent. The move provoked protests by supporters of Anwar. Ever since, he has had to deny repeated charges of homosexual acts, which are illegal in Malaysia, insisting that they have been trumped up by an establishment threatened by his ambition.
Between prison terms he established an opposition movement that always fell just short of toppling the party that has dominated modern Malaysia: the United Malays National Organisation (Umno). Then Najib came to power.
Evidence began to emerge that Najib had embezzled billions of pounds in government funds and used his influence to cover up his crimes.
Malaysians took to the streets in angry demonstrations but none was more enraged than Mahathir, who came out of retirement and formed an alliance with Anwar.
Their Alliance of Hope coalition won an overwhelming victory in 2018, the first time since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1963 that the opposition had taken power. Mahathir had Anwar released from prison, with the promise that he could take over as prime minister within two years.
Najib was arrested and went on trial for 42 offences but Mahathir showed no sign of stepping down. Anwar’s supporters in the People’s Justice Party became restive. Conservatives in Mahathir’s Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) looked for ways to block Anwar.
Conservatives in Bersatu began to plot behind Mahthir’s back with members of Umno, the former party of government dragged into disgrace by Najib. When Mahathir realised what they were up to late last month he abruptly resigned as prime minister, hoping to trigger a political realignment in which he could reassert his authority. He miscalculated.
In the turmoil Malaysia’s king asked one of Mahathir’s party colleagues, Muhyiddin Yassin, to form a government.
A vote of confidence was foiled by Mruhyiddin postponing the parliamentary session. ‘‘I am not a traitor,’’ Muhyiddin said on being sworn in. ‘‘I am here to save the country from prolonged political turmoil.’’
Not that his own course will be uncomplicated: his coalition partners in Umno are already complaining that he has not given them enough cabinet seats. And then there is the matter of Najib who, despite his continuing fraud case, appears buoyant. ‘‘I would expect that the atmosphere would be more conducive towards a fair trial,’’ he said this month.
The former attorney-general and anti-corruption chief have resigned. Mahathir also still seems determined to wrest back power. ‘‘To me, this is a duty,’’ he told an interviewer. Six years from his 100th birthday his opportunity must be limited, but in Malaysia stranger things have happened.