Anticipation and uncertainty across the Causeway

MALAYSIA is in an atmosphere of political anticipation, with Umno, the major partner in the currently ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition, indicating that it is ready for a general election.

Umno wants to ensure that the Pakatan Harapan coalition will not regain a parliamentary majority. Certainly, it is true that defections of one or two from the ruling coalition could result in its collapse. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's faction seized power in March after he took Bersatu, a party he founded with Mahathir Mohamed, out of the then ruling Pakatan Harapan to form a new alliance with Umno and the Islamist party, PAS.

But Umno and PAS are now in a National Consensus partnership and both parties are convinced that if they don't stand against each other, they can easily take at least 120 seats in the 222-member chamber and therefore form a government without needing any other party's support. It can also be said that Umno leaders went into the PN coalition for the sole purpose of ousting the administration of Dr Mahathir. The party probably figured that a two-stage process - first, bring down the Pakatan Harapan government, then withdraw support at the opportune moment from Mr Muhyiddin's hastily-patched together coalition - would be the most effective way to trigger a fresh general election.