Malaysia in Turmoil as Mahathir, Anwar Vie for Power

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Malaysia was plunged into a bitter power struggle Wednesday as Mahathir Mohamad sought 

to form a unity government following his shock resignation, but old foe Anwar Ibrahim also pushed to become premier.

The shock developments deepened a crisis that 

began when the ruling coalition -- which included 

both men when it stormed to a historic poll victory 

in 2018 -- fell apart after a failed weekend bid to 

form a new government without Anwar.

Anwar was Mahathir's designated successor, but 

he would likely have been pushed out and 

blocked from becoming leader if the weekend's 

bid had succeeded.

Their notoriously stormy relationship has 
shaped Malaysian politicians ever since 
Mahathir -- during a first stint in office in the 
1990s -- sacked Anwar as his deputy, and he 
was jailed on dubious sodomy and corruption 
charges.

They reconciled ahead of the 2018 polls to oust a corruption-plagued coalition led by Najib Razak, 

but many were sceptical Mahathir would stick to 

a vow to hand power to Anwar.

Mahathir, at 94 the world's oldest leader, 
was appointed interim leader following his 
resignation Monday, and he appeared initially 
to have strong support to return as premier.

But backing fell away early Wednesday and 
rumors swirled Anwar had garnered enough 
support from MPs for the top job.

Expectations rose that Mahathir might finally 
cede power -- only for the elderly leader to 
announce in a televised address to the nation 
that he wished to establish a unity government, 
and was willing to return as premier.

"Party politics must be put aside for now," said 

Mahathir. "If allowed, I will try to form an inclusive government, not siding with any political parties."

"If I still have the support I will return. If not I will 

accept whoever is chosen," he added, AFP 

reported.

Moments later at his own press conference at 

his party headquarters, Anwar said he had 

received backing from three parties in the 

"Pact of Hope" coalition -- the grouping in 

power until Mahathir quit -- to become premier.

Anwar said the coalition had invited Mahathir to a 

meeting on Tuesday evening, but after he failed 

to show they decided to put him forward as their 

candidate.

"Since the attempt to topple the government last 

week we have remained steadfast in defending 

the mandate of the Malaysian people," he said.

After reading the statement, he added: "We leave 

it to the palace to decide".

Officially the king appoints the prime minister, 

and he has been interviewing all the country's 

MPs since Monday to work out who they 

support.

A candidate must have the support of at least 

112 MPs -- but it was not clear whether Anwar 

or Mahathir would achieve that, heightening the 

chances of a snap election.

Reports say that Mahathir had already proposed 

a unity government to leaders across the political 

spectrum Tuesday, but they rejected the idea.