2018 General Election: The First Change of Government
Mahathir Returns to the Forefront, Anwar Still in Prison, and the Night the 61-Year Rule Ended
Late on the night of May 9, 2018, the question was no longer how many seats Barisan Nasional would lose.
It was whether it would lose the federal government for the first time.
Pakatan Harapan contested under a shared PKR logo in most areas of the Peninsula; while DAP in Sarawak used its own logo. When vote counting concluded, the parties forming Pakatan Harapan won 113 seats, Barisan Nasional 79, and PAS 18; Parti Warisan Sabah, allied with Pakatan Harapan, won another 8 seats. 1,2
From the Alliance Party to Barisan Nasional, the same political system was voted out of the central government for the first time since independence.
The Two Most Unlikely Men Stood on the Same Side#
Pakatan Harapan's prime ministerial candidate was 92-year-old Mahathir.
Anwar was still serving his prison sentence, and his party was the largest pillar of the coalition. The man who fired and the man who was fired twenty years ago did not truly erase their history; what they reached was a political arrangement: Mahathir would first lead the transition, and Anwar would take over in the future after his release. 1,3
This arrangement simultaneously broadened the coalition and planted a ticking clock within the government.
Mahathir helped Pakatan Harapan penetrate previously out-of-reach Malay constituencies, using his status as a former UMNO leader to convince hesitant voters that changing the government did not equate to the collapse of the nation or Malay political status. Anwar's camp provided the reform movement, multi-ethnic parties, and a long-standing opposition network. 2,3
The two forces needed each other to win.
However, their understanding of the transition timeline, Bumiputera policies, government power, and the old system were never entirely the same.
On May 10, Mahathir was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister. Anwar later received a full royal pardon and was released from prison, while Wan Azizah became the first female Deputy Prime Minister. 1,2
The transition proved something of monumental importance: the Malaysian government could be changed via the ballot, and the nation did not stop functioning because of it.
But election night did not automatically open every ledger.
The new government would next review 1MDB, government debt, and look into an institution safeguarding the savings of Muslim pilgrims. There, a warning letter from Bank Negara and records of up to a thirteen-month bonus were waiting to be placed on the same table.
Next: "Tabung Haji's Financial Crisis: A Thirteen-Month Bonus". After the change in government, criticisms were no longer just opposition allegations; the new management had to turn the institution's books into verifiable public facts.
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