he was forced from power during the 20 leavened revolution the news agency bloomberg is reporting that saudi arabia and its allies are resisting the u.s. calls to open the space to cattle that currently routes aircraft over iran according to bloomberg riyadh and its supporters want further concessions from doha ahead of the 2022 world cup tournament has been on the blockade for nearly 3 years u.s. democratic presidential hopefuls have held a fiery debate in south carolina days ahead of the state primary joe biden is still beating in the opinion polls there but bernie sanders and the billionaire tom styer a chipping away at his eat up next it's inside story on have more news after that in 30 minutes us either. americans live side by side in 2 parallel universes the trunk parts of america are getting trampy or there is a poll out a few weeks ago that you had almost 30 percent americans believing they were on the cusp of civil war both sides accuse each other of doing things that are so

blatantly wrong the bottom line on us politics and policies a matter of fact on the world. malaysia's power struggle bottom habits something resignation is thrown the country into uncertainty but what's motivated this just 2 years after a surprise comeback of what is a tell us about politics in malaysia this is inside story. hello welcome to the program i'm adrian finnegan prime minister mahathir mohamad has long been seen as a master of malaysian politics his shock resignation on monday has triggered speculation over what he may be planning he's been resisting pressure to set a deadline to and the power to his name successor abraham they put aside the decades long rivalry and 28 and that partnership brought mahathir back into power

under the deal to promise to hand over the top job to abraham now the ruling government has collapsed and political parties are rushing to forge alliances to form a new one so we'll come back to power through a different political partnership that's what we're going to be discussing shortly but 1st here is florence louie reports from kuala lumpur. mahathir mohamad in his capacity as the country's interim prime minister met with party leaders from across the political divide on tuesday now reports say he is proposing to lead a unity government one that would see politicians from rival parties working together to form the next government but that idea has been rejected by the main opposition party on no now i'm nor was dominant in the nation politics for more than 60 years until it was voted out in a general election 2 years ago now i'm know at a press conference together with several of the opposition parties have said if

mahathir can't even lead a coalition of 4 parties what's more a coalition that consists of 12 parties so they're calling for parliament to be dissolved and they want fresh elections to be held but another possible scenario that could happen is the formation of a new coalition now political horse trading and o'shea sions are still taking place and it's too early to say which parties could end up having enough numbers to form the next government but if this outcome sees the return of opposition politicians to government then there could be more political upheaval ahead for malaysia now in civil society organizations even politicians have called on malaysians to reject such a government saying it would be undemocratic and a betrayal of voters trust florence louis for inside story al-jazeera. let's try to get to the bottom of what's really going on in malaysia right now with

our guests on inside stories a from kuala lumpur we're joined by bridget welsh political analyst and senior research associate at the center for east asia democratic studies the national taiwan university in doha and her lawson is assistant professor at northwestern university focusing on links between society energy and environment in southeast asia and also in kuala lumpur abraham. sophia who's a polson executive director of the mccain center for opinion research welcome to you all bridget let's start with you he's managed to resign the premiership and the leadership and yet of his own party and had to somehow manage to keep both jobs why did resign does he actually intend to stand down or is all this a political ploy well i think he resigned because of the government collapse and there was a pup power grab within hit the coalition which he rejected some of the coalition partners that the that some of his defectors and power grab were actually joining

forces with he didn't want to work with them no but he came back because he still holds the the position in terms of being the dominant political position in terms of the parties and is seen as a stabilizing figure during this transition period and so what's your take on what's really going on in malaysian politics right now was was under pressure to go and if so who was applying that pressure well from a few sources that are inside malaysia. it wasn't really pressured to go unnecessarily but he was upset by member of his own party his own affairs minister yes in who colluded with his econ ministers from another party the party of our money brought him who seemed to want to form a new government. and he didn't want to work with the law just like it was

said by another the other guests. and he resigned in protest basically abraham what happens next as the king called a snap election or will attempt to form another stronger coalition one to his own design this time to what extent is all of this done him a political favor. i think you know what's going on right now is the king is interviewing every single member of parliament trying to determine which but tickler leader commands majority support i think. that direction the inclination is not to have a general or a snap election at this point in time i think any election we want to be part in if the government couldn't function if the prime minister couldn't come on a majority for our considerable period of thing i think what we will end up seeing in the next few days notice though my hope they're trying to for our new coalition

on prising is ordered by the. previous polish and support that he may be wives of that pollution as well as other by these that were you know independents are you know even some opposition members a kind of luck the fact that some opposition members of parliament my split their bite the and join him means that and that might provide him with the camera directly he needs to in any form of government be address some of the eaters that bleep the oil ruling coalition and neighborhood where does that leave and why are every him and what's happened to the agreement that there was between the heartier and bring him that he would step aside allow him to become prime minister and i think the current view right now is a that agreement is not under very funny because the government has collapse and

that new coalitions are going to be form and along with it may be human deals that will meet to be tatt with the different political parties i having said that i'm not euro's political curio is far from whatever he said that he commands a sizeable number of members of parliament within his pipe even though several members have left so i think. he still remains a force in mission politics however mr hugh grant entrance as prime minister may be to late because you know dr mahathir essentially caused the shots right now prejudice he said at the beginning of the program has him ahead has long been seen as a master of malaysian politics would he have been aware of the discussions that were being held by those within his own party with with members of the opposition who were implicated in that the one m.t.v. scam scandal which was which is what he was reportedly so upset about. i think it

was very clear that the in the talk in the town was of these particular elite wrangling and backdoor government deals for months now so he could not have not been aware of it but whether or not that power grab of the failed on the weekend broke down maybe from too much demands or not clear clarity on who the partners were or the degree of upset in the process. i think still remains unknown i think what to step back from this process to build on what abraham sippin was speaking just now malaysia's going is a coalition government and it is now facing for the 1st time in its history having to work with new coalitions that have broken down in terms of the alliances and come together their 8th different political parties all with vested political interests and and and wanting to hold on to positions the horse jockeying is intense and many of them do not hold very strong positions but they have enough that they can be a kingmaker or at least decide the future of the government because of the

fragmentation of the system so right now a lot of the job today has been spent intensely involving this horse jockeying and really wrangling at the same time those that are don't seem to be as strong or are ready choosing to call for elections so the opposition on the impasse has mentioned have been mentioned they've choosing to actually push for dissolution which is also the call that's coming from civil society and. one prominent opposition leader has called what's happened a coup d'etat. i just want to get over this to the skepticism i feel about what's actually going on the motivation to what wants actually happened. is. blameless in what's happened or is this political manipulation by a masa a political master i don't think there's any single master here but there's definitely

a lot of. political jocking i like bridget so here. the term it seems to grab power again by m though who used to be part of the ruling coalition for 60 years until 2018 when they voted out. appears to be one of the explanations there are you know soaring around in this. behind what's happening right now but in my opinion i think the king and the 4th one are going south and i do i will be a key figure in shaping what's going to happen next. abraham. the alliance between the hot tears policy and why abraham's party indeed their alliance was was pretty unlikely from the beginning was new to what extent was this bound to happen at some point given the longstanding tensions within the the

governing coalition well i think the sign thought all is there that there is some reluctance in order to. you know force for or for a longstanding deal. to take place finally because of the animosity i think the initial stage when there were men met and then subsequently who operated at the there was a woman that many malaysians felt that perhaps they have put the past behind them but i think in terms of the politics you know and perhaps everywhere else is not just the 2 individuals but also the people around them that carry the agenda and try to lead the various political masters and i think in this respect you know are perhaps individuals like dr my theory and even though i'm not a brain you know despite the issues they have at between them over never really had any serious conflict in the last 2 years. but instead i thing

a different actors from within the political groupings around them have been maneuvering in order to ensure that their masters you know have the upper hand and i think this is what has found by it leading to the fear. you know them over the weekend in the says that some individuals have signed up to. the hammers from the opposition to try and ensure a new government that excludes mr n one so i think that's what has transpired and and this certainly we are wissen the relationship between the 2 individuals moving forward it was definitely damaged trust ok so you see you don't think that that this partnership between dr mahathir and unwavering him will continue in the future i think you'd really partly because there is pressure mechanism on the part was men i think for mr knightley brame

because he does not what executive position in government he does not have the lever so we're also over the national machinery so i think it's much harder for him to influence the outcome but he is you know 25 years younger than dr mahathir so perhaps a little while longer and use this time to rebuild his pipe the u.n. support 'd and prepare for the next election which we know incidentally it will be coming in about 2 and a half or 3 years back so he very meaty doesn't have enough support to now a this particular moment to to form a governing coalition on his own with with him as prime minister. yes i think that's though the situation because 2 of the bulletin by these from his group being fast actually played for a while for dr mahathir yesterday and so because of that they're using the numbers for mr i don't want to call upon them only dorothy in the parliament so i think for

now dr mahathir the upper hand he has but then surely the ability to get him majority support from members of parliament prichard you talk about all this this political maneuvering that that the political backstabbing that that that's been going on and it's clear that some members of the heart is own coalition were working to undermine him over the last few days weeks months and yet now now we've had the resignation and political chaos many factions within the coalition of rush to offer their support to dr marty here why is that what's going on. well their politicians their interests their money power they want to be in a position of safety political safety and future for their future when the power grab collapsed we can now see that the some of them are scrambling to get into a potential position of a new coalition or a new arrangement many of the parties have split creating

a lot more the flag fragmentation in the system and now increasingly some of those feel that they want to go for elections and joining and staying part of the opposition this issue of who could do better in the elections is is under scoring some of the positioning they're taking in the in the in fighting in the horse jockeying so it's very good it's very fragmented but so far i want to emphasize that it's also been very peaceful and has been mentioned earlier that the king has played a very important role of engaging all the sides sort of truth telling on different sets of position is and setting that kind of a clear constitutional framework in terms of how how the process is moving forward so it's a very difficult transition but it has been one that has been peaceful and i think that is very important to emphasize. what sort of political realignment most likely to emerge after all of this what's the sickle to tell i mean it's in the party's

parliamentary system the malaysia practice is right now each party has its own interests collectively but within. every party there are individuals who are also not necessarily in agreement with another one another so it's hard to tell at this point but. it is notable that they've been trying to seemingly at least work things out. and some party members already mentioned that they don't want to be in a collision with another party for example doesn't want to be in accordance with the 8. p.c. or the p.a.'s islamic party things like that so to get a new coalition in my mind seems. more difficult then what. i say that it can happen if you're him what's what's your take home on that

how different to the packages on how to upon coalition will what comes next be and will it be representative of all of the various ethnicities that make up malaysian society. well you don't have a can or a point do represent the broad cross-section on which of the psyche a needs to address the fundamental problem that lead them in the 1st place which is the lack of rugby smilies a point so i would imagine that if. he had this opportunity dr mahathir could you know and the need to keep morsi is not an arm of the existing ips that hasn't watched him including his own party to reach across the aisle and bring in our parties auntie's are up whom i think in the afternoon of already pledged support to him but also on our individual m.p.'s from within our no itself who. are you know divergent interests from the party leadership and because of that use it as

an opportunity to solve several problems number one give the majority number 2 you know get that cross section of support that they desperately need and number 3 they also use it you know. expend he's on pappy an established in a more 'd power and control over the pollution within forward at the those would be some of the pools i think there are challenges however it's counterbalanced by the need to select people to cross over people from that all really ip from um no may have a number of legal problems you know anything for our bison irregularities and i think the biggest challenge for any new polish it is out of the convince the mission public that this is the truly a government is still at the meet that the response that the package to her puncak coalition was was fairly representative of most in society how do chinese person

and indian malaysians feel about i don't know a more nationalist government coming to to being. well i think abraham is correct that the perception of the previous fucka to harp on was that he didn't have adequate support among them in the majority community with among the malays but the side of that was also that there was too much representation of property being perceived by some parts of the mill a community of the non malays and i think this is one of the big cleavage is what is how are is the coalition going to represent all of the different ethnic communities and the leading party for the ethnic representation is a democratic action party as well as honor abraham's party p.k. are and these parties are the ones that are being thrown in terms of whether or not they're going to be in or not part of a coalition especially the a.p. and i think this is part of the of the issue of how malaysia is going to manage to belittle. if you choose to leave out one section

a group then it opens up the country to even increase the debt of the politics and increase census issues of ethnic tensions which have been which have percolated quite considerably in the last year and underscored some of the under the tensions that have helped the government collapse as it did and if there is a snap election will any coalition government that emerges from this disc be strong enough to last until the next election. any coalition that is form out that this. political incident needs to sure i think the malaysian public that they will carry on the mandate of the fact that that. call ition that was formed before. which is to deal with issues of corruptions with one m t v. and various other issues that they want to see. brought be brought to justice if not then it may all

probably not last that long and me be a short term again and then india and perhaps a snap elections go need to be held so it needs to assure. the malaysian public that it will carry on what pocket than harp on coalition was voted in for. i think it's pretty safe to say that malaysia's economy right now is performing what is all of this political chaos doing for for business sentiment in malaysia right now in the economy. well i think the business situation in malaysia has been in fact that my apologies for p.p. much. more so the previous year i think the lack of certainty over the transition of power from them out there though unlikely brame you know has actually carlip influence business decisions both inside and investors coming in from outside the spend inside the country but only because of the later politics year that as each

individual the prime minister that they were bringing in their own team they were replaced many key individuals and it might also mean changing policies so that the length of predictability does affect economic performance i think that's number one and number 2 is the issue of the prime minister's if it's so even if you dr mahathir it gives reappointed prime minister the press's more again a rising dose of who will he have assists access to and i think a key signal would be who you would appoint as a deputy prime minister i think the business community is going to look at that the cus there are not there's going to be unity policies or whether there's going to be further and predictability down the road at a bridge if we've got about a minute left of the program here just to summarize all of this for us if you would . would it be fair to say that the more and more abraham pushed for

a date for transition the more forces opposed to his leadership have worked to find an alternative is that is that a way we summarise what happens and what happens next i think that happened to the power grab but what we've seen since that is that we're seeing a new reconfiguration of a new coalition with other forces pushing for elections so we're going to see these 2 things be playing out and pushing for 2 different types of alternatives right now it's a wait and see game to see if the different actors can form a new government. thank you very much indeed for being with a spirited welsh and tomas and and bring him sophia and thank you for watching don't forget you can see this program again at any time just by going to the website at al-jazeera dot com for further discussion on the situation in malaysia join us on our facebook page to find that at facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story and of course you can join the conversation on twitter our handle at a.j. inside story from adrian for the good of the whole team here at doha thanks for being

with us we'll see you again my father. when the news breaks the work downfall was part of the ins and getting on the presentation and economic development when people need to be how the top leadership world where are the potential parity of the virus weeks before the public good political dangers al-jazeera has teams on the ground the syrian army says determined to defeat the rebels and in the news advanced words this is a good day to bring you the award winning documentaries and lightning. there is a huge group of people at work behind our screens and the power they have is massive that urge to keep swiping through a twitter feed that's just not the way we all click i agree to the terms and

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to continue coverage of the 1st state to the 2020 u.s. election. only just. at least 20 are killed or nearly 200 are injured as a group of hindus fight street battles with muslims in the indian capital. hello malcolm i'm peter double you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also this half hour a warning the worst is yet to come in the global coronavirus emergency the number of infections in south korea has now passed one thousands. forced from power in a popular uprising egypt's goes into 3 days of mourning for hosni mubarak following his death in cairo. also had the chance of protests.