As Mahathir plots, Muhyiddin faces a twist in Malaysia’s Shakespearean drama

Mahathir Mohamad may have been dethroned, but even at 94 his leadership ambitions aren’t over yet

His usurper Muhyiddin Yassin looks vulnerable, but even among Mahathir’s former allies, there are those who say time is finally up for this giant of politics

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Muhyiddin: coming or going? Illustration: Huy Truong

Published: 8:30am, 16 May 2020Updated: 8:30am, 16 May 2020

It is hard to predict what will leap out to historians as particularly egregious in years to come when they review the internecine political battles that have gripped Malaysia for the past few months.

If the squabbles had ended in March, the shock ousting that month of the 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister by his own party would clearly stand out in any historical timeline.

The tussle saw Muhyiddin Yassin – among the dozens of politicians groomed by Mahathir in his seven-decade career – succeed him as the country’s leader under the aegis of a new Perikatan Nasional alliance led by Malay nationalists the duo had defeated in 2018’s watershed polls.

The move booted out the Pakatan Harapan bloc that won that election, and extinguished with it hopes of a more progressive and multiracial approach to governance.

Muhyiddin – an ardent Malay nationalist – triggered the political earthquake after he pulled the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) he co-founded with Mahathir out of Pakatan Harapan over supposedly intractable differences with the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Even with such head-spinning events already having taken place in the first five months of the year, political insiders who spoke to This Week in Asia last week said the turmoil was likely to intensify in the medium term – with few signs of an entente among warring camps.