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By Shahril Hamdan
Many had hoped PM Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government that took office following the 2022 election could usher in a less hostile politics from all sides.
But an alleged plot to oust him indicates a lack of appetite for stability after years of tumult and keep finding ways to undermine people’s mandate.
Is there anything more quintessential of Malaysian politics these days than the weeks-long non-event dubbed “Langkah Dubai” (the “Dubai Move”)? In the simplest version, key instigators were to have met in the Middle Eastern city over the year-end festivities to engineer a withdrawal of support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim among enough MPs through statutory declarations to the king in his capacity as head of state.
The alleged plot, the story goes, had to be executed in time before Yang di Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s five-year tenure ends in January under Malaysia’s rotational constitutional monarchy system, as his incoming successor is seen as much less inclined to entertain such representations.
There were just enough tantalising details to get the political news junkies excited. Clandestine gatherings. Scheming conversations. Monarchical interventions. Politicians on holiday. Oh, the scandal.
Yet, nobody knows how much of this was true. It’s unclear exactly who was supposed to have been in Dubai, whether they actually met and if so, what the contents of their discussions were. It is equally ambiguous why, if any scheming by a handful of political elites was indeed happening, it could not happen at any time in Malaysia? Nor is it clear why the king would countenance such overtures to begin with.
URL to Full Article:
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3248261/malaysias-dubai-move-may-have-been-mirage-no-political-detente-sight