AT the time of submission of this article, Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian parliamentary opposition leader, is being granted an audience with the Malaysian king. Anwar is seeking to replace the current Malaysian government headed by Muhyiddin Yassin with one helmed by Anwar himself. The outcome of this latest round of attempts to wrest power peacefully by means of shifting parliamentary majorities is yet unknown. And it would indeed be a grand feat on Anwar’s part if he finally manages to pull it off.
Perhaps the two keywords here are “peace” and “majority.” Let us start with “majority” which, alas, has become almost a dirty word in the Malaysian socio-political scene in recent months. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy as well as a parliamentary democracy. The lower house of the bicameral Malaysian parliament (similar to Congress in the Philippine and United States political systems), also called House of Representatives, is popularly elected in single-member constituencies, with a term of up to five years, which may be shorter due to the calling of a “snap” general election at any time. There is no popular election for the members of the upper house (senate) of parliament, who are all nominated by either the federal or the state governments.
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