Is Dr M looking at Churchill-like wartime Cabinet as he seeks national reconciliation?

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — As the Agong continues to meet more MPs in order to ascertain who should be Malaysia’s prime minister, there is already a lot of chatter about what the new government will look like.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new government is likely to contain new and old faces but could be smaller and reflect a theme of national reconciliation, according to analysts and sources.

Malay Mail understands that the model of government being looked at is along the lines of a Winston Churchill wartime Cabinet because the country is facing serious economic challenges and an urgent need to accelerate institutional reforms.

A non-partisan government could lift the limitations of a single bloc leadership, freeing Tun Mahathir from thorny issues like race, religion and the party schism that dogged a large part of Pakatan Harapan’s 22 month-rule, and allow him to focus on more pressing matters like the economy and reform.

“While many MPs seem to want Dr Mahathir to continue on as prime minister it is still unclear what is the exact make-up of the new coalition and whether it will have any goals, policies or priorities beyond what Dr Mahathir wants,” political analyst Amir Fareed Rahim said.

“So far the idea of a non-partisan unity government has been mulled and remains one of the options at this stage.”

At the start of World War II, Churchill formed a wartime Cabinet consisting of rival members from both the Conservative and Labour parties and kept it relatively small to allow efficient execution of the war effort.

Dr Mahathir’s new Cabinet will likely feature leaders from opposing sides.

Datuk Mohamad Abu Bakar, a political scientist with Universiti Malaya, said whether or not Dr Mahathir will succeed in leading a loose alliance of rival parties will very much rest on who the interim prime minister picks to sit in his new Cabinet.

“In this new setting we have a situation where MPs are no longer beholden to party ideology and can vote (for policies) according to their respective interests,” he said.

“But there is always that risk of partisanship arising, and this could create opposition from within.

“So Mahathir would definitely need to give emphasis to quality, capabilities and loyalty. They will help keep the respective factions in line.”

This could entail Tun Mahathir offering posts to all factions supportive of him, including one led by former PKR leaders Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Zuraida Kamaruddin.

The two are seen as key players behind the power grab attempt that brought down the Pakatan Harapan, and were sacked from the party for treachery.

Azmin and Zuraida claimed the move was necessary to block Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s purported attempt to force Dr Mahathir’s early retirement. They now lead an independent group of 11 former PKR MPs who have also voiced support for Mahathir.

Under the Westminster system, any member of parliament can become prime minister as long as he or she commands majority support.

Traditionally, this meant electing a leader from a coalition or party with the most seats, which means the country will be charting unfamiliar waters should Dr Mahathir’s proposition for unity or reconciliation government goes through.

And speculation is mounting that it could happen. Malay Mail understands that the proposition has received significant backing, including a number of MPs from Umno.

Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs, noted that there is precedence where unity governments have succeeded, like post apartheid South Africa and the United Kingdom again just recently.

But Oh said most of these governments were forged in troubled times, and therefore are not meant to last long.

“It’s basically two sides of the divide namely erstwhile major rival parties forming a national government of unity but usually it’s very short-lived, it’s not meant to be really long,” he said.

A loose political alliance could also adversely impact policies, Oh added. Tun Mahathir could be forced to compromise to avert opposition, which could reignite conflict if any faction feels its interests are not met with.

“We’ll have vanilla policies and vanilla laws,” he said. “That is why (a unity government) is formed when there is some sort of national crisis.”