Merdeka Center’s Ibrahim Suffian said the opposition would also be hard-pressed to accept Muhyiddin’s offer as they would then miss an opportunity to take the helm.

He said Muhyiddin’s comment about not wanting “kleptocrats” to come into power was pandering to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and those aligned with him such as Warisan. The term is seen as a reference to Umno’s Najib Razak.

Ibrahim said this was because Mahathir and those aligned with him can then come along together and scramble enough numbers to stay in power, as there was still room to negotiate.

However, this too, would be highly unlikely as Muhyiddin is seen by those in Pakatan Harapan and those aligned to Mahathir as one who stole the election.

Ibrahim said any deals with the opposition would likely come after a confidence motion in Parliament.

“Senior DAP leaders will find it hard to sell Muhyiddin’s deal to the grassroots, for the PM is seen as one who came through the back door.

“It is highly unlikely the opposition will accept the PM’s term. It would be an opportunity for the opposition to take over.

“Why would Anwar Ibrahim settle for opposition leader with minister status when he can be prime minister?” he told FMT.

Ibrahim said Muhyiddin’s revelation today showed that Umno’s withdrawal of support had greatly affected him and the goodies that he promised to shower on the opposition, including giving Anwar a ministerial portfolio, were bribery.

He said the electorate will remain polarised over the power play as some want the political uncertainty to end and some want the current term to be seen out until the next polls due to the pandemic.

“But that is a hard sell for some. Why settle for status quo, let’s go through a motion of no confidence,” he said.

Political maturity if opposition takes up ceasefire

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, meanwhile, said Muhyiddin’s offer was a tall order and showed that he was at his weakest and his opponents would likely “go for the kill”.

He said presently, there are two camps jostling for power – Umno’s 14 MPs trying to be kingmakers and Mahathir and other power bases. The Umno MPs had withdrawn support for Muhyiddin recently.

Azeem said that while Muhyiddin has 100 MPs behind him, he still holds sway as the number exceeds that of Anwar.

“But we don’t know how these 14 MPs will vote in the end. We are still a mess, politically,” the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies director told FMT.

Azeem said he does not see a situation where political maturity and statesmanship come to the fore, at a time when peoples’ happiness is at an all-time low due to unemployment, poor economy and Covid-19.

“What we have now is pure power politics. What I see here is a desperate plea to all politicians to work with him. If Muhyiddin resigns, who is going to be voted in next?

“It will be square one again just like after Mahathir resigned as PM last year. Political stability will only come after GE15. Horse trading will continue when no one person has stability.

“If there are opposition parties who take the offer, it can work to their advantage. Voters might say, they are showing some political maturity and going for a political ceasefire for the time being,” he said.

Singapore Institute of International Affairs’ Oh Ei Sun said Muhyiddin’s offer of reforms could have been carried out before if he was sincere about them. Hence the current offer was nothing more than a desperate attempt at staying in power.

He said it was likely that voters would punish those who take up Muhyiddin’s offer, due to their unhappiness over how they handled the pandemic and the economy.

Grassroots in Umno, especially, have supported calls to withdraw support for the prime minister, he said, failing which, electoral reprisals can be expected in the future.

“Those who support this government, albeit by a confidence and supply agreement (CSA), will no doubt be tainted by association.

“Days before Muhyiddin’s speech, some in the opposition were tempted, even having publicly mused about the prospect of getting into a CSA

“So it depends if some or all in opposition would succumb to the pyrrhic temptation,” he said.