appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Joseph Sipalan

Melaka on Wednesday officially called for a state election – the latest test for Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government, which is already facing an internal feud and growing public frustration over failed reforms.
The state assembly was dissolved effective from Wednesday following an official notification sent to the country’s Election Commission the previous day by Ibrahim Durum, the Melaka state assembly’s speaker.
“A state election will be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the state assembly,” commission chairman Ramlan Harun said in a statement late on Tuesday, adding that the commission would convene a special meeting soon to decide on the date of the election.
The Melaka contest is the country’s third this year. Anwar’s ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has yet to recover from punishing back-to-back defeats in Melaka’s neighbours, Johor and Negeri Sembilan, at the hands of federal partner Umno.

The United Malays National Organisation is the incumbent party in Melaka, after winning a landslide 21 of the 28 seats in 2021. It later formed a coalition government with PH – which won five seats – to reflect the partnership struck at the federal level when Anwar was appointed prime minister in November 2022.
Caretaker Chief Minister Ab Rauf Yusoh had earlier indicated that the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition was talking to both PH and opposition front Perikatan Nasional (PN) about a potential electoral pact in Melaka. No decision has been made so far.
Umno leaders have already launched a campaign to unify the country’s Malay-Muslim majority base, following their successful – albeit informal – tie-up with the Malay-nationalist PN led by the Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS) in Johor and Negeri Sembilan.
That partnership helped Umno extend its supermajority in Johor to 48 out of 56 seats in July’s election, when PN actively urged supporters to vote for the incumbent party in seats that it did not contest.
They later worked together to wrest control of Negeri Sembilan from Anwar’s PH in August. Umno and PN won a combined 25 out of the 36 seats to secure a comfortable majority.
Analysts expect the Melaka state election to return another Umno majority, though PH may pick up votes from those wary of the ongoing constitutional crisis in Negeri Sembilan – where local Umno leaders endorsed a contested decision to replace the current ruler – and the recent royal pardon allowing house arrest for jailed former leader Najib Razak.
“Current issues … could create better opportunities [for PH],” said Mazlan Ali, a political analyst at the University of Technology Malaysia. “Additionally, the lack of clear cooperation between PAS and Umno in Melaka could play a significant role.”
Melaka could also provide a proving ground for new political realignments ahead of Malaysia’s next general election, due by February 2028, as PH and Umno’s federal partnership teeters on the edge of collapse.
While Umno is allying with PN, Anwar’s coalition is widely believed to be negotiating a Melaka pact with Bersatu – a former PH partner that spearheaded the 2020 political coup which brought down a previous PH administration.
“Umno continues to hedge, pledging federal cooperation while going against PH at a state level,” said Timothy Wong, a senior analyst with government affairs and public policy firm BowerGroupAsia.
“This means that the political landscape is trending towards pacts made on a state-by-state basis, depending on state level dynamics between parties rather than federal level relationships.”
Deepening dissent
Still, Anwar has to contend with deepening dissent from PH’s predominantly urban and ethnic minority support base, which has accused his party of abandoning its reform pledges in favour of cooperating with Umno to remain in federal power.
Najib’s house arrest proved a double-edged sword after PH became the target of a backlash over what critics had described as special treatment for the country’s elites.
King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar granted Najib a “conditional pardon” last week, allowing him to serve the remaining two years of his sentence at home, provided he first settles a 50 million ringgit (US$10.3 million) fine.
The former prime minister already had his 12-year sentence halved and fine reduced from 210 million ringgit in 2024, two years after he was jailed for corruption linked to a former unit of the scandal-tainted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Friday’s house arrest decision caused immediate ruptures in PH. On Saturday, Anthony Loke – the leader of the Democratic Action Party, the largest party in government – announced he would resign from cabinet as a sign of protest.

PH had its first taste of federal rule in 2018 in a watershed election that saw the end of Umno’s six decades of unbroken rule, as voters made clear their anger over alleged widespread corruption, particularly the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal that implicated then prime minister Najib.
PH returned to power after a deeply split 2022 national election, when then king Sultan Abdullah appointed Anwar as prime minister on condition that he form a unity government of allies and rivals.
Anwar had to lean heavily on Umno to provide legitimacy to rule among the country’s Malay majority. But his supporters were enraged after controversial court rulings freed senior Umno leaders of corruption charges – including 47 counts of corruption and money laundering against Umno president and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Wong, the government affairs analyst, said PH “is in need of a confidence boost and must prove that it can still stand on its own merits rather than wait for its rivals to implode”.
“The key issue is messaging and narrative control, which it [PH] continues to struggle with,” he added.


14 years later, ex-detainee repays Malaysia’s Najib for life-changing second chance

Malaysians joke their way through Negeri Sembilan royal row

Malaysia’s local acts feel left out of live music boom: ‘missing middle’

Alibaba Cloud set to open new data centres in Europe next year as overseas push gains pace

Malaysia

Malaysia’s Anwar faces political reckoning in Melaka as state calls for poll

Children play outside a traditional Malay wooden house in Melaka city. Photo: AFP

Umno delegates gather at Dewan Merdeka for the final day of the 2026 Umno General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur on September 12. Photo: Facebook/mediaumnomalaysia

Caretaker Chief Minister Ab Rauf Yusoh chairs a state assembly executive council meeting in Melaka on Tuesday. Photo: Facebook/abraufyusohofficial

Malaysias Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his wife arrive for National Day celebrations in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya last month. Photo: AFP

Christ Church in Melaka. The state is widely seen as the cradle of Malaysia's Malay civilisation. Photo: John Brunton

Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan royal crisis escalates as chief minister defies ruler

Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, the ruler of Negeri Sembilan, speaking during the opening of the Negeri Sembilan state assembly in Seremban, Malaysia. Photo: YouTube

The various state sultans of Malaysia pose for photographs in 2023 before the election for the country’s king at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: EPA-EFE

Will Anwar’s coalition in Malaysia implode amid Loke exit, Najib house arrest?

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: Pool via Reuters

DAP Secretary General Anthony Loke (centre) and other party members after an emergency meeting on Saturday. Photo: DAP Facebook

Will Malaysia’s Umno pull the plug on coalition partner PH?

Malaysian voters show their fingers dipped in ink after voting during the 2022 general election. Photo: dpa

Voters in Ampangan, Seremban, in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state queue to cast their votes for the state election on August 1. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi speaks at his party’s annual assembly on Friday. Photo: Facebook/mediaumnomalaysia

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid leaves the High Court after the court dismissed 47 corruption charges against him in 2023. Photo: dpa

Umno seeks early Malaysian election to cement conservative Malay bloc

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi speaks at his party's annual assembly on Friday. Photo: Facebook/mediaumnomalaysia

Umno delegates pray at the annual assembly on Friday. Photo: Facebook/mediaumnomalaysia

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (centre) celebrates Barisan Nasional’s win in Negeri Sembilan on August 1. Photo: Facebook/barisanasional

Malaysia’s Loke resigns as transport minister following Najib’s house arrest approval

DAP secretary general Anthony Loke arrives at his party's headquarters on Saturday afternoon. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Plain-clothes police officers inspect the home of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday ahead of his possible house arrest. Photo: EPA

DAP secretary general Anthony Loke shakes hands with members of his party after announcing his resignation as transport minister on Saturday. Photo: Ushar Daniele

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

The Melaka state election is Malaysia’s third this year. Anwar’s coalition performed badly at previous polls in Johor and Negeri Sembilan


The Melaka state election is Malaysia’s third this year. Anwar’s coalition performed badly at previous polls in Johor and Negeri Sembilan.


Malaysia’s Anwar faces political reckoning in Melaka as state calls for poll

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Melaka state election is Malaysia’s third this year. Anwar’s coalition performed badly at previous polls in Johor and Negeri Sembilan

The Melaka state election is Malaysia’s third this year. Anwar’s coalition performed badly at previous polls in Johor and Negeri Sembilan