Ouster a la Sheraton Move seen as unlikely for now
Published on: Thursday, December 01, 2022
By:
FMT, Elill Easwaran
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has secured enough support for two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: A political analyst has voiced his doubt that any party will anytime soon make a sudden move to grab power from the new government.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s position was solid and no party would want to challenge that now.
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Anwar has gathered a bloc of coalitions, individual parties and independents that crosses the two-thirds majority threshold in the Dewan Rakyat.
“I don’t think any side wants to see political instability again,” Chin told FMT when asked for his thoughts on the likelihood of another Sheraton Move, the political manoeuvre of 2020 that saw some MPs from Bersatu and PKR joining forces with those from Barisan Nasional and PAS which led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
References to the Sheraton Move began trending on social media after a recent meeting of some PAS and Umno leaders.
Chin said he believed political issues that might spark another Sheraton Move would surface only next year, when the state assemblies of Kedah, Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and Terengganu would be dissolved to pave the way for elections.
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He said the outcome of the state polls would “confirm which coalition is the most powerful” in the country.
Another analyst, Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said he would not rule out another Sheraton Move even though Anwar’s position seemed to be secure.
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He said it could happen if a bloc within the ruling coalition had the willingness to carry it out.
“When it happened in February 2020, Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not resign as prime minister,” he said. “He only resigned on the third day after it happened.
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