After meeting the heads of state and in accordance with Malaysia’s constitution, the king appointed Anwar as the Southeast Asian nation’s tenth prime minister. The king said in an official statement that Anwar would be sworn in at 5pm local time. “Whether you lost or won the election, I ask you to stand together for our beloved country,” the king said, according to a translation by CNBC. “It is important that our nation is free from political instability as the country needs a strong and stable government to build the country and strengthen the economy.” He asked the elected members of parliament to serve the nation well and expressed his gratitude to the state rulers for their help as well as their knowledge in resolving the crisis. Anwar’s appointment ends a more than 20-year wait for the former deputy prime minister, who has been an opposition leader for two decades amid prison sentences and political coups. Social media erupted as Malaysians conveyed “tahniah” or congratulations to Anwar. Others wrote “Daulat Tuanku” or “long live the king” on Facebook and Twitter after the king’s decision. Some netizens said they “shut down for the day” or “left the office early” to watch the inauguration at Istana Negara, the royal palace. “It’s a damn time,” one person tweeted. Another said his parents, who had seen Anwar’s political struggles, wept over his appointment. Anwar served as deputy to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s before being jailed for corruption and sodomy. Malaysian-listed shares were in the green ahead of the announcement, but rebounded shortly after with the benchmark KLCI up 3%. Telecommunications conglomerate Axiata Group Bhd was among the top gainers, trading more than 7% higher, as rubber glove maker Top Glove rose 6%. Genting Malaysia also gained 5.16% and CIMB gained 3.45%. The Malaysian ringgit also jumped more than one percent to 4.5070 against the dollar. Malaysia’s general election on Saturday created the country’s first hung parliament, prompting the king to ask the leading coalitions to present their alliances on Tuesday to form a government and name their preferred prime minister. Anwar Ibrahim is one of the campaign trail during the 15th Malaysian general election. Getty Images | News Getty Images | Getty Images But Tuesday’s meeting yielded no results, instead chaos ensued within kingpin coalitions such as Barisan Nasional over which leadership coalition they would support. In Saturday’s election, Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition — the largest in the country — won the highest number of parliamentary seats with 82 but still fell short of the 112 needed to form a government. The current ruling coalition Perikatan Nasional was in second place with 73 seats. Parties and coalitions must win a simple majority of 112 seats in parliament, out of the 222 seats up for grabs, in order to form the government. Malaysia has been in political turmoil since Anwar’s Pakatan won the 2018 election, ending the 60-year rule of Malaysia’s ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. Barisan failed to win re-election after former prime minister and former Barisan Nasional president Najib Razak fell from grace for his involvement in the multi-billion dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. Najib has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. But just as Anwar was poised to take the lead in 2020, some Pakatan members defected to form a rival coalition, Perikatan Nasional. The defection led to the collapse of the Pakatan government. — CNBC’s Jihye Lee contributed to this report.
