Business aljazeera these are the top stories u. S. Vice president ial candidate Pamela Harris is one of the senators that have been questioned by the Supreme Court nominee amy kenny barriers harris says Democratic Campaign is face lay opposed to an appointment before novembers election she focused much of her a lot of 30 minutes on the issue of health care. An official has more from capitol hill. Referred back to the fact that he has criticized parts of the Affordable Healthcare Act before the care act in the past and suggesting that the reason that she was nominated by donald trump was because she said that she would essentially strike it down it would be unconstitutional in her eyes though as far as the democrats are concerned the reason that this is being pushed through so quickly of course is just 17 days since we couldnt but it was announced as the nominee is that they want to make sure that there is a conservative majority on the court and they will be able to end the Affordable Care act obamacare once and for all cyprus has abolished a citizenship for Investment Program following it on the cover an investigation by aljazeera show senior politicians agreeing to help a criminal by a separate passports the parliamentary speaker in the report is abstaining from tuesdays until investigation is completed. Saudi arabia has failed to win reelection to the Un Human Rights Council the General Assembly voted to include china and russia despite widespread criticism of the human rights record saudi arabia and china vied for membership in a 5 nation race for spots with pakistan. And nepal 15 countries were elected to the 47 nation council. The Headline News continues here not to scare off inside stories stay with us. Could and whatever to him the malaysias next Prime Minister the Opposition Leader has made yet another push to give the job if what he says he has enough support so its good to hear finally grab power what would it mean for malaysia this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program. Has been on the verge of living in malaysia for decades now Opposition Leader and what about him is again trying to grab the post of Prime Minister he says hes president of the king with he has the required majority in parliament to unseat seen what he didnt has only a 2 seat majority and is struggling to maintain support. And one has told the monarch how many lawmakers backed him didnt reveal that identity is there when you get power struggle comes as malaysias economy is being battered by the coronavirus pandemic and one has malaysians to be patient and give the king space to review his bid. I would appeal to the good of millicents to exercise. Patience wisdom. And. The king to digest and decide based on. The spirit of the constitution and the discretion of his highness. And we must also remember that i mean. Serious last. Majority. And therefore. Would be appropriate for him to. Resign. Has been following the developments from. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he bet the king and presented him documents including statutory declarations and statements from Party Leaders to show that hes got the support of more than 120 members of parliament 112 is needed for a simple majority now one on one has been seeking an audience with the king since he announced last month that hes got the support of the majority in parliament and was seeking to be appointed Prime Minister but he hasnt been able to meet with the king until tuesday because the monarch has been on well but shortly after on ones press conference the state the palace issued a statement saying that while anwar informed the palace just how many members of Parliament Support him he did not name them the pilot the statement also said the king has advised on want to abide by and respect the constitutional process now thats the 1st hurdle for convincing the king that he has the support of the majority in parliament the 2nd is the king could still on the advice of the Prime Minister meet and yassin dissolve parliament and trigger snap elections now some analysts say this may not go down well with many malaysians considering recently held state elections has been blamed for a 3rd wave of corona virus infections in this country there is another option for on y. Bryan if he fails at this juncture he could wait for parliament to reopen in november and propose a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister whether or not that motion is granted is another matter Florence Louis for inside story. And. Had their roller coaster journey through his political life in 1903 he became how to mohammad deputy Prime Minister and was widely expected to succeed him but following a power struggle he was instead sacked and imprisoned for sodomy and corruption in 1998 he was jailed again in 2014 and war and his feud with mahathir before the 2018 elections that asked of the 61 year Ruling Coalition who was freed from jail and became her tears ignited successor but my heartiest failure to set a deadline to hand over power and his resignation of february has split the alliance and was bishan as were set back again when we had in the scene became Prime Minister in march his renewed his bid for premiership in september announcing his secured a parliamentary majority. Lets bring in our guest there or in kuala lumpur or tricia is c. E. O. Of the institute for democracy and Economic Affairs ibrahim sofia is executive director of Medical Center a Public OpinionResearch OrganizationBridget Welsh is Senior Research associate in the center for democratic studies of the National TaiwanUniversity Welcome to the program tricia now that i know what it brought him met with the king from a constitutional perspective what would be the steps taken by them or knock to find out whether and what about him generally has enough number of of parliamentarians to become Prime Minister and then an interesting day manager on the. Next steps for the constitution of the constitution actually does not recognize the role of Political Party for its day all the agong it to do is to be convents means no we are a certain Person Holding the majority within parliament and in recent times what the members of parliament have that is that they produced that issue declaration and present at the to the agony and this is what happens all the way back in february when there was a dispute and some who are helped the idea of the confidence of the parliament and the are going well now as we have that problem what iranians press Conference Today will be meeting with Party Leaders over the next few days and this is precisely what i write here has asked people to wait for the king to give the patient and give give at the patience to give the king the time to do this in meeting the Party Leaders and being convents their body as to who actually holds the command of the majority of the meeting it will decide. So the discussion is that the adult to decide to make that decision and then finally he will make that announcement still this is what was done in february to be safety many months ago and this is probably the steps that he will be taking us now but that is why im doing. It for him why is an was bid for power shrouded in secrecy he says he has the numbers his not forthcoming with comes to whos who and no major Political Party has said that it endorsers publicly and want to bring him well no this is not the 1st time or has made it is beautiful power through. The so channel of approaching the king and professing to the king that he has support you know as our course 2008 when 1st let the Opposition Coalition to capture the deny the Ruling Coalition back then of 2 thirds majority are not also made a bit to claim that numerous numbers of the members of parliament from the ruling party at that time had crossed over to support him and i think perhaps learning a lesson from that period where he had any names and people who knew who the possible m. P. s that was switching sides i think this time and what has learned the lesson and kept the list secret if there is one and i think he has something in his statement and also reading a statement from the palace today. I think some new digs of needs were produced sestet now no wonder st sure are cool there individuals are out. But what could be supported and so i think the horny should suspend everything because if the means are not bad you know the difference between park 83 f. Well of course shit to try to get me did support i see a point bridget now will the king is talk to all members of the parliament the 222 like he did in february that by the way for what he did yes him to become Prime Minister it was a going to be a different choreography this time. Well i think there are if this is one option and it was carried out before and i think its important to understand that in the option in february it was not clear whether that mood in yassin had a majority at that time and so the king did make a decision but its not clear whether or not those numbers were actually accurate so i think a lot of its going to have a lot of power the king has a lot of power to make a decision how he interprets the numbers and i think that what were seeing now only are the stages of leaders coming forth to speak to the king i would also add earlier on the question about the issue of secrecy that one of the issues however involves is the question of whether or not in the on where abrahams list are people who are criminally charged as part of the previous government and this is something that is being speculated on and there hasnt been transparency in this and this is something that of course affects on raber himself stature in terms of reforming and as a reformer so these are there are questions being asked not just about keeping the strategic political game and in the process but its also about the composition of this list and these of course will affect the entire relationship this is why the parties are actually being very cautious because they also do not know who is in that list of the monarch is widely seen as someone who favors. To stay in power to give a sense of political stability in the country what if nothing works what would be the options ahead for the model. Well i thought we talked about the 1st option which is to do interviews or the party you know bury it and that the Party Leaders are not going to say anything about their own members because the route that iran is trying to take is essentially who is that he is trying to fish for their breakaway members of the Party Leaders themselves are not obviously are evidently going to Say Something that there are members are breaking away so on the 2nd option is as your correspondent said earlier is that once Parliament Sets in november then one of the members of parliament can call or of whats our confidence or of what of not confidence for the sitting family someone here the end of this has been attend that in the last Parliament Just the same but it did not succeed because of the power and the speaker has whether its whether he wants to take that more chance of its table in parliament or not so all of that may be likely again this time and other option of course is just to wait for what happens when the budget is table saw the budget has already been possible and from early october to now early november so on the parliament must. And see whether people actually bought on the budget they brought him but couldnt and up becoming a gun bit for a new one abraham because historically speaking malaysia is a come to whenever you have a crisis you see defectors and then you see backdoor diplomacy and bargaining takes place people change alliances and you have a new political realignment but what if they stein it backfires on him and his not the next Prime Minister well i think this kind of scenario you know i dont regret taking considerable rifts in trying to gain power with it but the way that the parliamentary parties are running the line you know i dont have a group what was it by the fact that was a number of m. P. s but many of them you know kind of were from the opposite side thought maybe if youre logical reason as well as a concrete reason nature that sound needed from the president was because she didnt have very few ts car keys to a good step and so i think doesnt have a lot of choice and so in this. Campaign that hes doing hes hoping that theres enough number of people crossing and that his coalition of 91 and the effect to supporting him across the board now there are also potential are going to be gracious where at some point to come from either but i think no matter what competition you know underway right eventually arrives at it is definitely going to be a fairly fernando coalition of m. P. s that is driven as i see by interest sense of selfpreservation or just me shit until the next shift who is actually was by 2023 bridget isnt and what about him of the same time putting the monarch in a very delicate situation because if the monarch meant taint had. Seem to fit would be some how some people would be upset if he does all the parliament calls for new elections thats what many people will want to see in the near future well it in essence still is quite popular overall in terms of general public but what weve seen in the last 2 weeks in particular has a real decline in his popularity in particular because of that the covert 1000 cases one has to understand that in the last 2 weeks one 3rd of the cases that have covered 1000. 00 at a record it which is a now at around 700000. 00 have actually come in the last 2 weeks and this government and under yet 1000000 yassin has chosen to use this is kind of a benchmark for his legitimacy so in a sense the king is in a difficult position not only in dealing with the political elites hes also in a difficult position in dealing with the problems that the country are facing not only the Health Crisis but the economic crisis and the end is preventing the option of the elections coming forward because malaysians really for worried about an election being held at this time because at least 2 percent of the cases of covert 1000. 00 in the country have come from those elections directly in terms of coming into the rest of malaysia but it led the cases of where the epicenter is the cases of a couple 1000 have doubled in the state of sabah so as a consequence the king has to be very cautious about the issues that are at hand that are actually much more serious than they were 2 weeks ago and of course these choice the choices of leadership whether its amr or for someone else or meet in yassin a common that backdrop keep in mind that malaysia has now gone and parts of the country into another lockdown which has very serious Economic Impacts that are regressive in parts of the population so there are real concerns in as a result of that development in society that the king is conscious of trisha but arent chances also slim given the fact that people are blame him for the new spike in coronavirus. The economy has been suffering for quite some time and i didnt he was not able over the last 8 or 7 months to reinvent himself and the Ruling Coalition actually prior to the sabar state election his popularity was rather high and if you not follow what happened in the service the election he actually use that as a benchmark for his own popularity and you know he took that to mean that he does still have that many dates and i do believe that but then there is also speculation about this general election and that is what was supposed to have taken place you know some people have said it before the end of the year but i think now with the spike in corporate 90. Theres also a lot of possibility that thats not going to happen and elections are not due for several years more anyway i do believe that following management of this kyra it there are kids that if this goes well and we are able to flatten the curve the way we did after the 2nd we can and then fell and we do have quite an efficient Public Health system you know we have a good actor general there and if that happens again i do believe that yes its popularity can restore itself again and you know he has been able to so its a ride on that on that on the Public Health way. Just so he can talk about political stability. And what has widely been known as a reformer a man who are calling for institutional reform Judicial Independence and the rule of the law that was in the ninetys do people still remember him for that particular image. Well i dont argue gramatica given to quadruple support the head of state we think through thick and thin over this last 2 decades and through the support of this segment i know i had hastily ill mccauley shipped off to other Political Parties around him i think i dont want to be challenged that the numbers of support that he had is just short of whats needed to win an election outright and the the problem that is generational as well as culture well i dont want to deal with i dont want. Programs on reform agenda and also improving governance of the city resonates very well with her personally i dont want programs frances left without with rather and and my lead was it was a shout loudly because those groups up with this whole focus on livelihoods that economic progress and that the ruling by the p. P. P. Had to trump that through the use of the resources british policy and also that i Cash Incentives to support the hudl electorate so i dont want to branhams feel that theres a militia in public is very segmented so strong so the sentry but much weaker in the interior and the peaceful that actually occupies the majority of the region of the sense that if you do this it challenge bridgette you have an economy where the the world bank is predicting an economy that is going to contract by 4. 9 percent this year and 6 point one next year this this should be a bit alarming for the political establishment on film but he didnt yes it in particular. Well unfortunately many parts of the political establishment are focusing on politicking with each other and there is a sense within a large part of Malaysian Society that there is a lot of growing distrust of politicians irrespective of who they are and theres also much more demanding electorate but yes i think there is a recognition beyond the politics of the serious and the Economic Situation in a new study came out today by the cosigner Research Institute that points to at least 1000000 people who are in a very vulnerable positions in terms of the Economic Situation and end this i think really is an important indicator of the fact that there are high any qualities in malaysia and of course there are people who are much more vulnerable and they could be 1000 as we know learned globally is that is very regressive it affects the poor much harder and i think this is something that the government it is aware of and it has increased social protections but the fact is that they have actually only bet been short term there have been more medium term types of measures or more planning because the focus has been in politics. And the ideas policy of the malays are United Indigenous Party best to build a Stronger Coalition the same way the united. Nation did during the time of the body because historically speaking you always have this Strong Coalition but with a vast coalition you would have an extremely popular Political Party run by an extremely popular politician this is how malays politics been going on for quite some time can do that same thing. The problem that were hitting us in wolf is that within the coalition itself you already do have knowledge there as the strong party and saw you know what youve been in coming into election kind of negotiations for states that will be very difficult yes you have been saying that that was that you have successfully farmed a very strong will and muslim coalition. With the 2 im not even part that is i mean for the for the 1st time up there a long time being together working together again by the reality is that they will be competing for a very similar sort of what which means that you know im not actually destined to have the upper hand or when it comes within the coalition i just let a one mark i met go a little more like please go ahead go ahead yeah i was just going to say and i think while its not what the net the government is continuing to provide is stimulus package and thats the only response in if we got to the growing economic concern and the government is also great you know rare i think that now also running out of school space and a lot of percentage of our economy is filled by the petronas the oil and Gas Resources and we know that they have not been doing well even in the last want to sell they are means greece than a sense and running out of options ok every him from the. All the way towards the back of the 2 Major Political coalitions there have governed malaysia for quite some time particularly the us you not many blame of the political establishment for failing to take into account but that malaysia of today is a model to if the multicultural a nation that should be governed by your political establishment not the old one that continues to hold to hold its grip on power. Yeah i mean basically you know there is a reluctance to move away from identity politics identity politics are going to be the very easy go to option for Political Parties what the lights are get the benefits in but in the structure the reason is because listen i think that those districts are designed kind of ethnic lines each district produces a member of parliament they belong to represent the interest of the. I think your ethnic group so its kind of systemic so little you know reform its leaders a few words from even trying to figure out if i should know its very hard for them to get traction because the deal to be more tribal law rather than. The fundamental belief but i dont get the result reject its much much more immediate that he has discussed policy and these guys. You know issues that the economic policies and so on but its very hard to move to be ok from there if you want to take to its more substantive policy issues or the challenges that the country faces in competing with the rest of the world to the thank you thank you very much tricia brought him so if you hadnt bridget wells appreciate your insights thank you and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website. 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