Anwar’s ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has been battered politically since he took power in 2022, as supporters censured his administration for failing to live up to its reform pledges by accommodating corruption-tainted former rivals and leaning rightward in a bid to win over conservatives among the Malay-Muslim majority.
But reform was at the top of the agenda when Anwar gave his first public address of the year, announcing that his government would aim to make law by this year a limit of not more than 10 years or two full terms for a prime minister.
“Everyone has a limit. Even the [chief secretary to the government] cannot stay for decades, and this applies to all,” he said in his monthly address with members of the prime minister’s department.
The fresh push for a term limit would help project the image that PH was still committed to its reform agenda, said Adib Zalkapli, managing director of geopolitical and public affairs firm Viewfinder Global Affairs.
