Chin Huat chat #1: Dr M wanted presidential power until dying day

2020 was inarguably the most tumultuous year Malaysia has endured since the 1960s, a decade that included the confrontation with Indonesia, Singapore's departure, the Communist insurgency, and bloody racial riots.

In a series of chats, political scientist Wong Chin Huat talks through this year in politics to help understand how a year that began with such promise has ended in confusion and uncertainty.

One of the basic elements of planning for the future is understanding and learning from the mistakes of the past. When historians in the years to come look back at 2020, they might see the supposedly reformist Pakatan Harapan government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad toppled and replaced by the unelected Perikatan Nasional administration of Muhyiddin Yassin.

It might seem to them that Mahathir was a victim whereas to contemporary observers there can be no doubt that the ex-premier had a role to play in the downfall of his government.

His intended ‘self-coup’ was to end the Harapan administration, in which his hands were tied by a promised handover to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, and replace it with...