Ismail Sabri and Anwar going neck and neck in the race to become Malaysia’s ninth PM.
KUCHING (Aug 18): Malaysians are wagging their tongues debating who their ninth prime minister will be as former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob was leading against opposition leader and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at time of writing.
Most pundits and at least one of the pro Perikatan Nasional MP suggested Ismail Sabri, who is also Umno vice-president, as having the upper hand.
This was despite the wait for official announcement by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, earliest by Friday evening after a 2.30pm Malay Rulers meeting finished.
After 220 MPs were presumed to have submitted their individual statutory declaration around 4pm today, pundits immediately took to social and mainstream media to contribute their part in the perception war, usually done by politicians during normal times.
Puncak Borneo MP Datuk Willie Mongin, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) member made a vague post on Facebook earlier this evening.
“115 God is Great!” he said in his post.
This was followed by several congratulatory sort of messages by his Facebook friends.
However a handful of them did pour cold water on his post by hinting that Anwar might be the chosen one.
One of the infographics posted by netizens suggested that Ismail Sabri is now having the support of 115 MPs surpassing the minimum number requirement for a simple majority votes of 111.
They were assuming that Ismail Sabri has the support of MPs from Bersatu, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Barisan Nasional (made up of Umno, Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress) as well as four independent MPs.
That would then leave Pakatan Harapan (comprising PKR and DAP), Pejuang, Warisan, Parti Bersatu Sarawak (PSB) and two independent MPs rooting for Anwar.
Malaysia has come to this stage following the resignation of Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin as the eigth prime minister on Monday when he lost the simple majority in Parliament after 18 Umno MPs decided not to support him anymore.