Malaysia, the king and the de facto king

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysian lawmakers from across the political spectrum blasted Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for calling on parliament to vote on a new leader, saying the move disrespected the country’s monarch.

Parliament won’t convene the special meeting on March 2 as the letter sent by the premier breached procedure, house speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof said in a statement. The meeting should only be called after a decree from the king, he said. Mahathir said Thursday the king had failed to find a candidate with a clear majority in the 222-member parliament, and an election would be called if lawmakers couldn’t decide on a leader in the special meeting. The king had appointed Mahathir as interim prime minister following his surprise resignation this week....

The backlash raises questions about whether Mahathir, 94, miscalculated in abandoning a coalition that pulled off a shock election win in 2018, taking down a government that ruled consecutively for six decades....  Yahoo News

Mahathir is fighting his last battle at the age of 94. The last time when he announced his shock resignation as PM while in UMNO, the UMNO top leaders spared no time to accept his resignation immediately to his horror. They could not wait to remove him as the PM and put another aspiring and ambitious UMNO leader in his place. This time round the play was the same. Mahathir thought he was the de facto king and is still calling the shot, the indispensable leader Malaysia could not do without. Then came the news that PKR and DAP again changed their position, from supporting Anwar to supporting Mahathir and Mahathir said he had enough support to be the PM.

Then the Palace made the announcement that Muhyiddin would be sworn in as the PM, meaning Bersatu had backed out from supporting Mahathir.

When the chips are down, everyone is abandoning him. Anwar put himself up as the candidate for PM but changed in the last minute when he could not muster enough numbers to be the PM. His former foe, UMNO would have nothing to do with him, and his own party Bersatu has put up Muhyiddin as their PM candidate. The errant PKR break away 11 MPs also turned against him.

And worse, for announcing that the PM would be chosen at the next Parliamentary sitting in 2 Mar, he seemed to have forgotten who is the King of Malaysia and offended the royalties and the loyal Malaysians that loved their King. They are accusing him of showing disrespect to the King and promptly the Palace announced that there would be no Parliamentary sitting to elect the PM, a slap on Mahathir's face.

Just a few days ago, after resigning and reappointed as the interim PM, Mahathir seemed to be the one to be the PM again and calling for the formation of a unity govt. This is not going to be. Muhyiddin won. Looks like his last gambit has gone with the wind. Mahathir's final battle with the royalties ended with the royalties as the winner.

At 94, it is unlikely that Mahathir is going to be given another chance to stage a comeback.