Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Plans New Government

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday that he won a majority in Parliament to form a new government that is "strong, stable and formidable."

Anwar said he has been granted an audience with the King on Tuesday, but it was postponed because the King was in the hospital for treatment. He said he was not going to share information until he met the King, reports AP.

“Conclusively, we have a strong, formidable majority. I am not talking about four, five or six ... but much more than that,” Anwar said. “With clear and indisputable support and majority behind me, the government led by ... Muhyiddin Yassin has fallen.”

There was no immediate response from Muhyiddin, who was due to make a televised speech later on Wednesday. Muhyddin has been struggling to retain support in the midst of infighting in his coalition, which has just a small two-seat majority.

Minister of Science and Technology Khairy Jamaluddin countered Anwar 's assertion. He tweeted a photo of the Cabinet meeting, saying, "The Cabinet meeting  just ended. Nothing collapsed or fell.

Anwar said his government is not going to be an unelected government. He said that he will restore his coalition, which was elected in 2018 but collapsed after Muhyiddin withdrew his party and joined up with corrupt opposition parties to form a Malaya-centric government in March.

If he succeeds, it will be a dramatic revival for Anwar on his roller coast political journey since the 1990s.

Once a high-profile in the ruling party, Anwar was convicted of homosexual sodomy and corruption after a power struggle with then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998. He was arrested for sodomy for the second time in 2014.

Anwar and his supporters have long dismissed sodomy charges, saying they were intended to ruin his political career. But instead of giving up, Anwar ended his feud with Mahathir from his prison cell to forge a new opposition coalition that claimed a spectacular victory in the May 2018 national elections.

Mahathir became premier for the second time. Anwar was freed with royal pardon days after the elections and was the chosen successor of Mahathir until their coalition fell apart.