Malaysia Has Political Frogs

My Malaysian friend told me it felt like there was a new political party every two or three years, and everyone kept switching parties. I thought that was pretty funny, so I looked into what he meant.

There was a real period of upheaval behind it. In 2018, the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan won a huge election upset, ending the uninterrupted federal rule of Barisan Nasional and its predecessor since independence. Mahathir Mohamad returned as prime minister, this time on the opposition’s side.

Then the alliances started coming apart. In 2020, Bersatu left Pakatan Harapan, alongside defections by a faction of MPs from another party. The realignment became known as the Sheraton Move. The government fell less than two years after winning the election, and Muhyiddin Yassin became prime minister without a new general election.

There’s a name for politicians who jump parties: katak. Frogs. They hop from one side to another.

The new parties weren’t all new people, either. Mahathir and Muhyiddin, both former leaders of UMNO, the main party in the old ruling coalition, had helped form Bersatu in 2016. After Mahathir was removed from Bersatu in 2020, he formed another party, Pejuang. Some of the same figures were appearing under different banners.

By the end of 2022, the premiership had passed from Mahathir to Muhyiddin, then Ismail Sabri Yaakob, then Anwar Ibrahim. Four prime ministers across that stretch of four years.

So “a new party every two or three years” was my friend’s way of describing it. The actual story involved new parties, old politicians, and existing parties changing who they were willing to govern with.