Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): The King has consented to appoint Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister, following the conclusion of the Conference of Rulers, said the Palace in a statement on Thursday (Nov 24).

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah chaired the conference at 11am on Thursday morning, and the decision was made after taking into consideration the views of all Rulers attending the meeting.

Subsequently, Anwar, 75, will be sworn in at 5pm, said Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Seri Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin.

The announcement finally put an end to the five-day political impasse after the 15th general election (GE15) resulted in a hung Parliament, in which no coalition successfully formed a simple majority of 112 parliamentary seats.

Al-Sultan Abdullah said political parties should work together again for the future of the beloved country, as the “winners did not win everything, and the losers did not lose everything”. 

The monarch reminded the incoming PM and the new Government to be humble, and said the people should not be burdened by the ongoing political turmoil when the country requires a stable Government to stimulate the economic landscape and the nation's development.

“The elected Dewan Rakyat members should be reminded to show solidarity and provide higher priority, commitment and the best standard of service to the people."

Anwar rose to the top echelons of the Government as the deputy prime minister to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s, before being sacked from his position after the Asian financial crisis.

The politician then led a "Reformasi" movement and became the leader of the Opposition. He was charged with sodomy twice, in 1998 and then 2008. He was convicted for the second time in 2015, and handed a five-year prison sentence.

Anwar was pardoned in 2018 after a historic change of Government when the PH coalition, under Mahathir’s leadership, managed to bring down Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration amid controversy over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. 

In the GE15 on Saturday, PH and its allies secured 82 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, enough to be the largest political bloc in Parliament, but not enough to form the next Government, which requires a simple majority of 112 seats.

The second largest winner was Perikatan Nasional (PN), which won 73 seats, but the coalition was initially unwilling to work with PH, and rejected the Palace’s proposal for the formation of a unity Government.

In a U-turn on Thursday, it announced that it would consider participating in a unity Government.

The Palace's decision on Thursday came after the GE15’s second runner-up — Barisan Nasional — indicated its reluctance to form a Government led by PN, and a truce between Sarawak’s dominant coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and DAP, a component party of PH.

GPS attempted to participate in a Government headed by PN, but the Sarawak coalition changed its mind subsequently, and left it to the King to decide on the next PM, while Sabah’s dominant coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah took a similar stance.

Get our comprehensive GE15 coverage here.

Edited ByLam Jian Wyn
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