But he added that Malaysian politics needed to move on from the Anwar and Mahathir battle. “PH needs to have new leaders who are accepted by everyone.”
Another analyst, Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia, said he did not think PH had reached breaking point, but added that there would be more bickering and a further loss of trust among the coalition parties unless the issue was quickly resolved.
“You can only have one PM candidate,” he said. “One person has to give way.”
Chin said he believed negotiations would continue and a solution would be found soon.
The main issue, he said, was how PH could enforce a timeline on Mahathir’s tenure if he were to be confirmed as the PM candidate and if PH were to regain power.
He noted a DAP statement that PH would trigger a general election if Mahathir refused to hand power to Anwar at a stipulated time, but said he did not believe it could be enforced.
“Mahathir is partyless and not part of PH, and yet he has such a big impact on the coalition. PH needs him more than he needs it due to his ability to get rural Malay support.”
Expert Cited
