Transcripts For ALJAZ Inside Story 20240712

Has displaced tens of thousands of people it began with the taliban launched coordinated attacks in Helmand Province on saturday u. S. Troops are helping to defend the Afghan Security forces. Control as more from kabul. On. That witness taking place down in the south of the. Last night. Where 2 Afghan Military helicopters cross. Defense come from just earlier that. According to local sources helicopters were there to evacuate. Afghan soldiers and since the fighting has been. Defense forces have been moving in more rain and more commandos to deal with the situation israel and lebanon a meeting to discuss control of maritime borders the delegations are in southern lebanon for being called in direct talks both sides claim parts of the mediterranean coastline the world bank has approved 12000000000. 00 in new funding for developing countries to buy covert 19 bank seems the financial help will soon be used to test and treat people for covert 19 its part of a 160000000000. 00 program to help nations fight the coronavirus pandemic flooding in Central Vietnam has killed at least 28. 00 people torrential rain has inundated villages to estimated that 100000 homes have been submerged rescuers are now trying to reach people trapped by the flooding situation is likely to get worse. Those are the headlines more news for you after inside story next he began with a move and just here i got shot i fall down i felt like i was that a documentary filmmaker once granted unconditional asylum contrasts his experiences with those seeking refuge today and intimate you know of the consequences of the east policies of detainment is really unnecessary all this misery they cannot absorb this number that people have to suffer and in this way it is unacceptable and refugees take on him to 0. Could and whatever to him the malaysias next Prime Minister the Opposition Leader has met yet another bush together job it brought him says he has enough support so could he have finally grab power and 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 it will him is again trying to grab the post of Prime Minister he says his president of the king where he has the required majority in parliament to unseat seen what he did and has only a 2 seat majority and is struggling to maintain support the palace and no one has told the monarch how many lawmakers backed him or didnt reveal their identities there when you had power struggle comes as malaysias economy is being battered by the coronavirus and demick and has malaysians to be patient and give the king space to review his bit. 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. Why 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 kuala lumpur. 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 supports 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 why brian 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 theres a greater successor but my heart is failure to set a deadline to hand over power and his resignation of february has split the alliance and bishan is worse set back again when we hid in the s. C. And 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 Opinion Research Organization Bridget Welsh is Senior Research associate in the center for democratic studies of the National Taiwan University Welcome to the program tricia now that and 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 convinced 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 produce that history declaration and present at the to the agel 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 europeans press Conference Today will be meeting with Party Leaders over the next few days if and this is precisely what i write here has asked people to wait for the king to give the patient the give give at the patience to give the king the time to do this in meeting the Party Leaders and being convents beverly as to who actually holds the command of the majority of the meeting it will decide. So the discussion is that the im going to decide to make that decision and then finally he will make that announcement so all 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 on that is why im doing. It for him why is an was bid for power shrouded in secrecy he says he has the numbers has 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 nor has it is beautiful power through. Those so channels of approaching the king and professing to the king that he has support you know as our course 2008 when our 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 least 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 noticeable needs were produced sestet now no wonder st sure are cool there individuals are. But what that be supported and so i think the horny should suspect and to him because if the means are not bad you know the different facts will be good arkady the 3 of korra shit to try it at me did support i see a point bridget now will the king talk to all members of the parliament the 222 like he did in february that this is the way for what he did us in 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 even 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 trish of the monarchy 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 leader themselves are you know 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 more of whats our confidence of what of not confidence for the sitting Prime Minister morsi 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 maybe likely again this time and other option of course is just to wait for what happens when the budget is stable saw the budget has already been possible or from early october to now early november so on the parliament must. And see whether people actually bought well the budget it brought him but couldnt and up becoming a gun bit for a new what abraham because historically speaking malaysia as a country 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 a 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 want a group what was it by the fact that were number of m. P. s but many of them you know kind of would from the opposite side thought maybe easier logical reason as well as the controversial nature that sound needed from the president was because she didnt have very few the escort of 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 theyre also 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 thats driven as i see by interest sense of selfpreservation or just. Shit until the next shit who is actually lose by 2023 bridget isnt and what about him of the same time putting the monarch in a very delicate situation because if the monarch montagne. 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 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 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 sad state election his popularity was rather high and if you not follow what happened in the service the election he actually uses 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 where it happened and elections are not due for several years more anyway i do believe that following management of this correct there of 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 no one 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 give it to quadruple support the head of state we think that it can fit over this last 2 decades and through the support of this segment i know i have paid the Bill Mccauley shit off the other Political Parties around here 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 was. Programs on reform agenda and also improving governance of the city resonates very well with her but lisa i dont want programs francis left without with the rebel and and my leaving was it with a shout loudly because those groups up with this whole focus on the likelihood that economic progress and that the ruling by the p. P. P. Had to trump got through the use of the resources beverage policy and also that i cashed in 10 days to support the who are elected so i dont want to branhams feel that theres a militia in public is very segmented stronger than the ventry but much weaker in the interior and the the school that actually occupies the majority of the region of it so then that if you visit challenge bridget 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 and for me he didnt yes and 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 its actually is very regressive it affects the poor much harder and i think this is something that the government is aware of and 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 party of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party to build a Stronger Coalition the same way the united the Malays National organization 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 that up with the 2 im not even part 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 2 when it comes within the coalition i just had a one marker met did all my life please go ahead go ahead yeah i mean i was just going to say and i think while its not what the net the government is continuing to provide is to molest like a jet 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 you know also running out of school space and a lot of percentage of our economy is fueled by the petronas that oil and gas use are cess 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 if youre him from the. Us you know 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 multiethnic 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. Here i mean basically there is a reluctance to walk away from identity politics identity politics are going to be the very easy go to option for Political Parties to mobilize get the benefits in but in the structure the reason is because least i think that those districts are designed along ethnic lines and each district produces a member of parliament i belong to represent the interest of the. I think your ethnic group so its kind of systemic so little you know reform is the gist of what 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 its already rejected its much much more immediate that he has discussed policy and these guys you know issues such as the economic policies and so on but its very hard to move to be located from a very deep on a dig through its more substantive policy issues so the challenges that the country faces in competing with the rest of the world to the thank you thank you very much tricia you brought him soviet and 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. Dot com for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com fullest last a. J. Insights or you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is a jane say stories from the house and one on the entire team here in doha. My name is near the plays where this is going truly calling. Me up to friends who are springing up wanted me to want to know you all ends up with money managerial is resilient and is just sort of surprises plan a serious thing is yes to every normal. My nigeria. On algis there. Is the government not taking the necessary action to really address some of the structural issues we listen i still think that air travel is the safest mode of travel and to spend that we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on the old a 0. 0. Every. Thousands of families forced to flee fighting in afghanistans Helmand Province. Oh i may very unfit again this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up huge numbers of early ballots cast in the lead up to the u. S. Election signs that those a turnout could be the highest in a century