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Is Malaysia’s king taking sides in the current political turmoil?
- Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued a fresh statement on Friday urging calm following a meeting with Anwar Ibrahim earlier in the week
- Political analysts were split on what the king’s intentions were with the statement – and whether it indicated support for PM Muhyiddin Yassin
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A call made by Malaysia’s king on Friday for an end to the country’s power struggles has raised questions among commentators about whether the monarch, who is obliged to stay neutral, may be backing the embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
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Giving rise to such thinking was his lament in the statement that the country should “never again” be subject to prolonged political uncertainty in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. One analyst who spoke to This Week in Asia suggested this was a tacit means of indicating support for the status quo.
Furious back-room negotiations have been taking place this week within Muhyiddin’s camp to stave off 73-year-old opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s plan to assume the prime ministership by inducing defections of government MPs.
Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional ruling alliance is propped up by 39 MPs from the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) – the former ruling party that remains a major political force in the country.
Anwar’s plan involves pulling over Umno MPs who are disgruntled with Muhyiddin’s leadership and is the latest twist in the political imbroglio the country has been mired in since late February, when Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah intervened to play a stabilising role following the back-room coup Muhyiddin staged to assume power.
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