With royal consultations underway to determine who will lead Malaysia’s third government in as many years following Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation on Monday (August 16), Malaysians are bound to be struck with deja vu as aspirants for the top job once again race to form a governing majority.
Muhyiddin is set to stay on as a caretaker prime minister until Malaysia’s king determines his replacement. But the nation is now without a government as it contends with Southeast Asia’s highest per capita rate of Covid-19 infections and deaths, and the mounting economic costs of its prolonged political turmoil.
Nor is there a clear successor in sight given that no politician or political party is known to have clinched the majority support of legislators in Parliament. Amid the uncertainty over which parties could form the next government and whether it would even be viable, Muhyiddin could conceivably serve in a caretaker capacity for months until new elections can be safely held.
Among his most likely successors is former deputy premier Ismail Sabri Yaakob, opposition leader and long-time prime ministerial hopeful Anwar Ibrahim, and 11-term veteran lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who could emerge as a compromise candidate amid a factional split between supporters and opponents of the outgoing premier.
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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.
