As the war cries for his ouster grow, can Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak hold on till the next election?

The unthinkable is happening in Malaysian politics. It has been triggered by the deepest political crisis the country has known, with Prime Minister Najib Razak at the centre. Bonded by a common desire to unseat Najib, two bitter foes – former premier Mahathir Mohamad and his jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim – have joined hands in a turn of events long thought impossible.

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Mahathir himself described this as a “very strange group of people” brought together by a common goal to see Najib step down. By calling it a “core group”, Mahathir indicates this is only the beginning. What could emerge is still hazy, perhaps even to Mahathir himself. But it is safe to say that a new era in Malaysian politics is unfolding, with the key players jostling for a place.

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Broadly speaking, politics has become polarised. The first group is pro-Najib, anchored around Umno, the ruling party, where the internal dissenters are being silenced while the loyalists lead the battle cry for Najib as he fights for his survival. Opponents within and outside the party are being crippled or threatened. Indeed, the knives are out for suspended deputy president and critic Muhyiddin Yassin and his allies for backing Mahathir’s “citizens’ declaration” of March 4.

The second group is basically the rest – the anti-Najib forces comprising some 50 of the country’s political luminaries and other leading personalities, including Mahathir’s wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali and Democratic Action Party leader Lim Kit Siang, as well as civil society leaders.

The Mahathir-Anwar tag team aside, the convergence of forces pushing for systemic reform is equally unprecedented. Indeed, Anwar’s embrace of his foe’s mission signals that Mahathir has reciprocated – in his support of Anwar’s reform agenda – perhaps convinced that the entire system has been compromised by Najib’s survival manoeuvres.

This is reflected in the concluding paragraph of the declaration “to pave the way for much needed democratic and institutional reforms” and to “restore the important principle of the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary”, which will “ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our national institutions”.

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As expected, Najib’s hard-core lieutenants have dismissed Mahathir’s gamble as leading nowhere. Some have belittled his resignation from Umno as something of a joke. Deputy prime minister Zahid Hamidi has painted Mahathir’s move as unconstitutional.