Sin Chew Daily

PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced yesterday he had enough parliamentary seats to form a new government.

He said the number is close to two-thirds of all 22s seats and a lot more than the 112-seat threshold.

He also declared that Muhyiddin's government had collapsed and that His Majesty the King was the first to be notified, adding that he would have an audience with the King as soon as possible in order to set up the new government.

If Anwar really succeeds in turning the table around this time, it will be a second version of the February 24 Sheraton coup barely seven months earlier.

Following his press conference, prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had his at 14:30 in the afternoon. People began to speculate whether the Parliament would be dissolved. But then the PM only talked about economic stimulus packages and prihatin measures for low and middle-income groups, never mentioning anything about Anwar's claim that his government has collapsed. Again, people started to wonder whether Anwar really gets the chance this time.

Even as the PKR president was brimming with confidence at the press conference, there are still several dubious points here.

Firstly, he has not had an audience with the King yet, so why the rush to announce it to the world now? Secondly, he never mentioned who his new allies were. Thirdly, he said he would form a multiracial government dominated by the Malays, which seems to go well with the "multiracial political spirit" the local Chinese community is very much looking forward to, but he did not elaborate on the structure of his multiracial government. Fourthly, while he said he hoped to work with Muhyiddin, he seemed to have forgotten that the PM actually has the power to dissolve the parliament. Fifthly, parties in rival camp including BN, PAS, GPS and Sabah parties have denied they would team up with Anwar.

If this is the case, then Anwar's press conference will become a big joke!

Umno president Ahmad Zahid later said in a statement that Umno and BN will not stop their MPs from supporting Anwar as they are not Perikatan Nasional components.

It looks like indeed Anwar now has the support of a "big party", and this will render all the above "myths" irrelevant, unless Muhyiddin rushes to dissolve the Parliament!

Anwar's new line-up must include the original PH's 38 seats from PKR, 42 from DAP, 11 from Amanah, nine from Warisan and six from Mahathir's camp. He said he had near absolute majority (the rumored 123 seats do not include Warisan and Mahathir's camp). So, the 14 additional seats must have come from Umno and BN reps!

The year 2020 marks a hugely eventful year for the country as we fight the coronavirus very hard and witness earth-moving changes in the country's political landscape.

The thing is, are we seeing such political side-switching farce way too often? On the positive note, Malaysians have learned to calmly watch the "drama" put up by the politicians, and have learned to respect democracy untainted by bloodshed in a way that is far more superior than political kataks that hop where personal gains are.