Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim wants to project strength. His former ministers won’t let him

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance will doubtless try to project a united front this weekend, but two former ministers from his own party are threatening to pull attention back to the fractures inside the reformist camp.

Pakatan Harapan (PH), the reformist coalition led by Anwar, holds its first convention in four years in the southern state of Johor on Sunday.

That same day, former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, once among the most recognisable younger figures in Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), are set to unveil their new “political direction” at a public event.

The awkward timing has turned Sunday into a political split screen: PH will be trying to project discipline and renewal ahead of the next general election, while Rafizi’s event has fuelled speculation that he and his allies are preparing a new platform outside Anwar’s party.

Anwar came to power after Malaysia’s 2022 hung parliament by forming a broad “unity government” that brought PH together with its former rival, the Umno-led Barisan Nasional, and regional parties.