Mahathir, Anwar face off in contest for Malaysian prime ministership

Kuala Lumpur: The race to become the next Malaysian prime minister is shaping up as a contest between two men who have alternated as allies and enemies for more than two decades.

Mahathir Mohamad called for a government of national unity on Wednesday, breaking his silence two days after the Pakatan Harapan governing coalition he led imploded.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad shakes hand with his then-designated successor Anwar Ibrahim at the weekend.Credit: AP

But a "confident" Anwar Ibrahim, who was on a promise to take over from Mahathir after two years when the pair put old enmities aside to win the May 2018 election, has been backed to be the country's next prime minister by the remaining three parties in his coalition.

Anwar's PKR party and its two allied parties, DAP and Amanah, had on Tuesday been supporting Mahathir to return and lead a revived Pakatan Harapan coalition.

In fact, parties from the government and the opposition had all indicated support for Mahathir to remain at the helm - but then the opposition UMNO pulled that support and called for an election, triggering the contest between Mahathir and Anwar.

The 72-year-old Anwar served as deputy prime minister up until 1998, when he fell out spectacularly with Mahathir, now 94, during his first, 23-year stint as prime minister.

Now, after joining forces to blast Najib Razak out of office two years ago, the pair are facing off once more.

Malaysia's Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah spent Tuesday and Wednesday interviewing all 222 members of parliament to gauge who has support.

It will be up to the King to choose who to invite to form a new government, based on those interviews, but neither Mahathir nor Anwar appears to have the numbers to form a majority government at this stage.

Anwar Ibrahim, left, stands next to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998.Credit: AP

Anwar's group can count on 92 MPs, short of the 112 required to form a majority, while Mahathir can count on at least 37 MPs - but it is likely many more MPs would swing behind the latter, older man as a unifying figure promising stability - particularly if he wins support from the King.

In his address to Malaysia, Mahathir said he had quit because he did not see the job of prime minister and the power that came with it as the “be all and end all”. He apologised to Malaysians for the political chaos of the past few days.

"To me that power and position is a means to an end, a tool, to achieve the objective. And our objective is the good of the nation," he said.

"I promised to resign to give the House of Representatives an opportunity to decide who would replace me. If it's true that I'm still supported I'll be back. Otherwise I will accept whoever is selected.

"Politics and political parties need to be put aside for now. If it is possible I will try to establish a government that does not favour any party. Only the interests of the nation will take precedent."

Mahathir confirmed that his Bersatu Party had quit the Pakatan Harapan coalition and attempted to form a government with UMNO, the corruption-tainted previous government, and PAS, an Islamist party - but that he would not work with UMNO, so had resigned as prime minister.

Later on Wednesday, Anwar said that Pakatan Harapan opposed the attempt to establish a "back door government" by UMNO, Bersatu and PAS.

"Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council invited Tun Dr Mahathir to chair a meeting to restore the Pakatan Harapan government, but Tun declined to attend the meeting on Tuesday evening," he said.

"As such, the decision of the [party's] Presidential Council yesterday determined that the prime ministerial candidate for Pakatan Harapan is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim."

"I'm always confident," Anwar said, "the numbers are with the king. We're not supposed to play with the numbers."