PM8: Muhyiddin Or Anwar?

Anyway, whether Muhyiddin or Anwar ends up as PM8 will depend on the current negotiations going on. The negotiations are hot and the demands and offers extremely lucrative. As Mahathir is fond of saying, cash is king. But cash alone is not enough in this high-stakes game. Power and positions must also be part of the package. And these are what are currently on the negotiating table.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Conference of Rulers is delaying making any decision on what to do about the current political crisis brought about by the power-struggle between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim for the post of Prime Minister or PM8.

In fact, the matter has now turned into a Constitutional Crisis with Mahathir usurping the powers of Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Parliament Speaker by making all sorts of pre-emptive moves and announcements.

According to insiders, Warisan, GPS, Pakatan Harapan and Umno are divided about who they want as the new Prime Minister and heavy negotiations are going on in the background with demands and promises of huge sums of money and positions in the new government. PAS, it seems, has already decided on their candidate but will not reveal the name yet.

Mahathir is as good as finished and is on the way out unless he does something drastic such as launch Operasi Lalang 2.0 or get the army to declare an emergency and impose martial law, like what happened after the ‘May 13’ race riots in 1969.

The two likely candidates at the stage are Muhyiddin Yassin and Anwar Ibrahim, in that order of priority. Muhyiddin can be said to be the ‘dark horse’ and will play the balancing role, like what happened when Tun Ghafar Baba was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister to replace Tun Musa Hitam back in 1986.

Muhyiddin was instrumental in ‘exposing’ the 1MDB issue and the person who persuaded Mahathir to use the issue to attack Najib Tun Razak. He had hoped that with Najib’s downfall he would take over as the Prime Minister.

Muhyiddin is also instrumental in pulling PPBM out of Pakatan Harapan on Monday, 24th February 2020, a move that Mahathir did not agree with, said party insiders. But then, with Mahathir’s resignation as Prime Minister, this was the only way to block Anwar from taking over as PM8.

Muhyiddin’s hands are seldom seen and he has always played a hidden role in the background. He was involved in the 2006 move against the then Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and again in the 2015 move against Najib Tun Razak. And, today, Muhyiddin’s hidden hands are again actively involved in the current political crisis.

Anyway, whether Muhyiddin or Anwar ends up as PM8 will depend on the current negotiations going on. The negotiations are hot and the demands and offers extremely lucrative. As Mahathir is fond of saying, cash is king. But cash alone is not enough in this high-stakes game. Power and positions must also be part of the package. And these are what are currently on the negotiating table.