MALAYSIA IN 2020: Political Fragmentation, Power Plays and Shifting Coalitions

Saravanamuttu examines the political fragmentation, power plays and shifting coalitions in Malaysia. The year 2020 saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in less than a week - from 23 to 28 Feb - in what has been dubbed the Sheraton Move. The PH government began the year with persistent political splits caused by the unfulfilled transition of the premiership from Mahathir Mohamad to Anwar Ibrahim before it was deposed in the Sheraton Move. The new coalition of Perikatan Nasional (PN), led by Muhyiddin Yassin, has held on to power despite many forecasts of its impending collapse and multiple political manoeuvrings. Malaysia is currently in an unenviable situation in which the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its deleterious economic and social ramifications, is coupled with an unstable ruling coalition.