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My Take | Malaysia’s ‘Dubai Move’ shows unity government faces more political drama, intrigue in 2024

  • The recent ‘Dubai Move’ allegations are reminiscent of the politically fluid pandemic years, which saw unprecedented midterm changes for the government
  • PM Anwar Ibrahim’s political opponents have also been hauled up for questioning over alleged corruption, amid rumblings a state election could be called later this year

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: EPA-EFE
There’s rarely a dull moment in Malaysia’s political arena, with the country spending these first few weeks of 2024 preoccupied with talk of a purported coup and other political machinations, while local media was filled with headlines about the nation’s favourite pastime: speculating on corruption.
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While Malaysians were still recovering from their New Year’s hangovers, social media was already flush with accusations, denials and armchair assessments about how long Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration could stay in power after allegations emerged about the so-called Dubai Move to topple the government.
The accusation – first made public by a senior official in Malaysia’s community communications department, otherwise known as J-Kom – is that a group of senior opposition leaders held a meeting with at least two government MPs in Dubai to discuss plans to bribe pliable backbenchers to defect and bring down Anwar’s administration.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition bloc, along with two senior government MPs said to be co-conspirators, denied there was ever such a plot. PN leaders, however, swiftly added that there was nothing unconstitutional about bringing down a government by way of parliamentary numbers.

The whole situation feels a lot like a tired retread of the politically fluid pandemic years, which saw unprecedented midterm changes to the prime minister not once, but twice, before the 2022 general election.

It started with 2020’s “Sheraton Move”, in which a group of MPs caused the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan coalition government by switching parties, only for the following PN administration to collapse in 2021 due to even more political instability and shifting allegiances.

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Then, earlier this week, deputy prime minister and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was rumoured to have flown to Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo to mediate over internal bickering between leaders of his party’s state chapter, amid rumblings that a state election could be called later this year, well ahead of the 2025 deadline.
Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in September 2023. Photo: AFP
Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in September 2023. Photo: AFP
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