Bid to oust ex-leader from ruling Bersatu party could backfire badly on PM Muhyiddin's razor-thin majority coalition
Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad may be down, but the 94-year-old political veteran is not yet out. Mahathir was sacked on Thursday (May 28) from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), or Bersatu, the governing party he co-founded in 2016 and led to victory in 2018’s general election, heralding the nation’s first-ever democratic transfer of power.
His dismissal from the party, along with his son Mukhriz Mahathir and three others, is the latest ante-upping twist in a bitter intraparty feud pitting Mahathir loyalists against supporters of incumbent Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin, a mild-mannered machine politician who served as a minister in Mahathir’s previous two governments, was royally appointed as the nation’s leader following a political crisis in February that saw Mahathir tender his resignation.
In a theatrical show of defiance, the nonagenarian elder statesmen made a surprise visit to the party’s headquarters on May 29, in which he sat at his desk and dared Bersatu officials to personally inform him that he had been expelled.
Read the full story at Asia Times.
Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad may be down, but the 94-year-old political veteran is not yet out. Mahathir was sacked on Thursday (May 28) from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), or Bersatu, the governing party he co-founded in 2016 and led to victory in 2018’s general election, heralding the nation’s first-ever democratic transfer of power.
His dismissal from the party, along with his son Mukhriz Mahathir and three others, is the latest ante-upping twist in a bitter intraparty feud pitting Mahathir loyalists against supporters of incumbent Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin, a mild-mannered machine politician who served as a minister in Mahathir’s previous two governments, was royally appointed as the nation’s leader following a political crisis in February that saw Mahathir tender his resignation.
In a theatrical show of defiance, the nonagenarian elder statesmen made a surprise visit to the party’s headquarters on May 29, in which he sat at his desk and dared Bersatu officials to personally inform him that he had been expelled.
Read the full story at Asia Times.
Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
