It would appear that Anwar Ibrahim can’t quite catch a break. Every time he moves an inch closer to his Putrajaya dream, something, or someone, always comes along to throw a wrench in the plan.

Take recent events. First, the PKR man’s audience with the Agong to “prove” his claim of “solid and convincing majority” support had to be put on hold after the King was hospitalised. Now, just as things appear to be moving, the palace goes into partial lockdown, thanks to that pesky Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) being imposed.

To catch you up to speed, just like after the Sheraton Move in February, it’s now in our Ruler’s hands to determine our government’s future and what happens next in this whole will he, won’t he Anwar saga.

Only, after Anwar and just one other politician on Tuesday – lucky Umno vet Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah aka Ku Li – meetings with all other party leaders has had to be postponed. This includes appointments with DAP and Amanah head honchos Lim Guan Eng and Mohamad ‘Mat’ Sabu, Umno chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and possibly MIC’s S.A. Vigneswaran (even if blur sotong Vicky says he wasn’t informed).

BTW, this guide does a good job wrapping up where everyone stands with the Anwar Move and what could comes next.

Now everyone, their mother, father and nosy neighbour have been speculating over the King’s decision to summon Ku Li, considering the latter isn’t a leader of any party (well, not since Semangat 46). Now, Ku Li’s name is included in a purported list of MPs supporting Anwar, but his political secretary has claimed le boss the King merely wanted to pick the brain of the country’s d̶i̶n̶o̶s̶a̶u̶r̶ longest-serving MP. 

That may well be the case. But it seems old man Ku Li has been keeping busy in the lead up to yesterday. Recent reports now show an apparent play by him to push through the ouster of current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

On Sept 25, two days AFTER Anwar made his ‘I have the numbers to take over the w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ gomen’ announcement, Ku Li apparently wrote to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar ‘Art’ Harun requesting the vote of no confidence motion (we’re guessing the one former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad proposed) against Moo be given priority at the next House sitting.

Art has denied that Moo was behind any effort to halt the hearing of the no-confidence motion. In his reply to the Gua Musang rep, meanwhile, he explained government matter takes precedence over “private members” business, according to House standing orders.

We cannot begin to tell you what Ku Li’s ultimate plan may be, but timing of this is suspicious AF. Still, it would well be this has nothing to do with that perennial PM wannabe Anwar but instead to political tug-and-war between Umno and Bersatu.
 
Umno the kingmaker?
 
Speaking of Umno, the party which produced the likes of Ku Li, Anwar, Maddey, don’t forget Bossku Najib, would well be seeing itself play the role of kingmaker in this whole political imbroglio.

For one, Anwar’s claim of over 120 MP lends to speculation he has the backing of a chunk of Umnoritas. While several of those named in the Anwar Supporters’ Club list have denied it, Zahid himself said many others do. Incidentally, Anwar is being probed by the police of the list.
 
Now, things are not so rosy in the house BN-Umno and Bersatu share. Members’ dissatisfaction over seemingly having to take a back seat to Muhyiddin’s much smaller Bersatu party has been threatening to bubble over. The party said it was considering withdrawing support for PN and forming a formal Muafakat Nasional alliance with PAS. 

This could be linked to behind the seat negotiations with Anwar, as the timing, like in the case of Ku Li’s letter is interesting, but it could also just means things have finally come to a head between the two ruling bumi-based parties. Either way, such a move could put a severe dent in Muhyiddin’s armour and his hold on the premiership.
  
What is clear, however, is that Umno now has the power to renegotiate terms with Muh. Supporters of the “renegotiation”, like former (and now disgraced, though he doesn’t seem to show it) bigwig Najib Razak and another supreme council member, Puad Zakarshi, say it was right to do so as the party had been bullied by Bersatu all this while.
 
BN sec-gen Annuar Musa, meanwhile, tried to couch it a little differently, saying that it was not wrong for Umno, PAS and Bersatu to go back to the drawing board to form another alliance which would be more beneficial for Malaysia. TL;DR, more power for Umno. 
 
PAS and Sarawak party PBB, however, have asked Umno to explain things and not create political uncertainty in the country, with the former insisting that its support for MooMoo hasn’t changed. 

What would come to pass, time will tell. But what is clear, plans are certainly in motion, despite the temporary CMCO hitch.