Reformist leader Anwar named prime minister of Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur (AP): Malaysia's king on Thursday named reformist opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as the country's Prime Minister, ending days of uncertainty after divisive general elections produced a hung Parliament.
Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said Anwar will be sworn in as the nation's 10th leader at the palace at 5 pm (0900 GMT) at the palace.
Anwar's Alliance of Hope led Saturday's election with 82 seats, short of the 112 needed for a majority.
An unexpected surge of ethnic Malay support propelled Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's right-leaning National Alliance to win 72 seats, with its ally Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party emerging as the biggest single party with 49 seats.
The stalemate was resolved after the long-ruling bloc led by the United Malays National Organisation agreed to support a unity government under Anwar.
Such a tie-up was once unthinkable in Malaysian politics, long dominated by rivalry between the two parties. Other influential groups in Borneo island have said they will follow the king's decision.
"His Royal Highness reminds all parties that the winners do not win all and the losers do not lose everything," a palace statement read.
The monarch urged Anwar and his new government to be humble, and said all opposing parties should reconcile to ensure a stable government and end Malaysia's political turmoil, which has led to three prime ministers since 2018 polls.
The palace statement said the king was satisfied Anwar is the candidate who is likely to have majority support but didn't give details of the new government.
Police have tightened security nationwide as social media warned of racial troubles if Anwar's multiethnic bloc wins.
Anwar's rise to the top will ease fears over greater Islamisation. But he faces a tall task in bridging racial divides that deepened after Saturday's poll, as well as reviving an economy struggling with rising inflation and a currency that has fallen to its weakest point.
Malays form two-thirds of Malaysia's 33 million people, which include large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
"He will have to make compromises with other actors in the government that means that the reform process will be a more inclusive one," said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia political expert.
"Anwar is a globalist, which will assure international investors. He has been seen to be a bridge builder across communities, which will test his leadership moving forward but at the same juncture offers a reassuring hand for the challenges that Malaysia will face."
It marked a second victory for Anwar's reformist bloc. It won 2018 elections that led to the first regime change since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. But the government collapsed after Muhyiddin defected and joined hands with UMNO to form a new government. Muhyiddin's government was beset by internal rivalries and he resigned after 17 months. UMNO leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob was then picked by the king as the prime minister.
Many rural Malays fear they may lose their privileges with greater pluralism under Anwar. Fed up with corruption and infighting in UMNO, many opted for Muhyiddin's bloc in Saturday's vote.
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Kamala Harris claims she 'had a certain responsibility' to argue against Biden running again
Washington: Former US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday evening that she regrets not expressing her concerns about then-President Joe Biden running for a second term when a majority of Americans felt he was too old for the job.
"I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on," Harris told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC in her first live television interview since the election.
Such a conversation, even if it happened privately and behind the scenes, would have been an extraordinary breach in a relationship between a president and vice president.
Harris' comments expand on a passage in her book, "107 Days," that looks back on her experience replacing Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee after he dropped out of the race. Harris ultimately lost to Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In the book, Harris wrote that everyone in the White House would say “it's Joe and Jill's decision” about running for reelection, referring to the president and first lady. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” she wrote.
“The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”
In her interview with Maddow, Harris said, "when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I'm talking about myself.”
Harris said in the interview she was concerned that “it would come off as completely self-serving” if she had counseled Biden not to seek reelection. She had competed against him for their party's 2020 nomination, and she was well positioned to run again.
A representative for Biden declined comment.
