Anwar’s Own Allies Stab Him In The Back — Landmark Reform Bill Dies By Two Votes

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s bill to limit the PM’s term to 10 years fell just two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed — not because the opposition voted it down, but because eight of his own government-aligned MPs failed to show up.

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It was supposed to be a historic day for Malaysian democracy.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim personally walked into parliament to push through a bill that would have limited any future prime minister to just ten years in office.

The opposition didn’t vote it down. Nobody stood up and said no.

Instead, the bill died the quietest, most embarrassing death possible — eight of Anwar’s own government allies just didn’t bother to turn up.

The numbers tell the brutal story. Malaysia’s constitution requires two-thirds of all 222 members of parliament— 148 votes — to pass any changes to the constitution. Anwar got 146.

Two votes short, zero votes against.

The bill didn’t get defeated. It got ghosted.

@mediaselangor Dewan Rakyat hari ini tidak meluluskan Rang Undang-Undang (RUU) Perlembagaan (Pindaan) 2026 yang bertujuan mengehadkan tempoh jawatan Perdana Menteri kepada 10 tahun, selepas gagal meraih sokongan dua pertiga Ahli Parlimen. Dalam undi belah bahagian, hanya 146 Ahli Parlimen menyokong, manakala 44 berkecuali dan 32 tidak hadir, kurang dua undi daripada ambang minimum 148 sokongan yang diperlukan bagi pindaan Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Keputusan itu diumumkan Speaker Dewan Rakyat, Tan Sri Johari Abdul, selepas RUU berkenaan dibahaskan oleh 41 Ahli Parlimen daripada blok kerajaan dan pembangkang. RUU yang membabitkan pindaan kepada Perkara 43(2)(a) Perlembagaan Persekutuan itu sebelum ini dibentangkan bagi bacaan kali pertama minggu lalu oleh Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Undang-Undang dan Reformasi Institusi), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, namun gagal dibawa ke bacaan kali ketiga untuk diluluskan. #MediaSelangor #tempohkhidmatpm #parlimenmalaysia ♬ original sound – Media Selangor

The Silent Killers

The most shocking names on the absentee list?

Three of them came from UMNO — the very party that is supposed to be Anwar’s coalition partner in government.

And not just any UMNO members – former Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein — one of Malaysia’s most recognisable political heavyweights and cousin of convicted former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak — was a no-show.

So was former Human Resources Minister and MIC deputy president, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, and Libaran MP Datuk Suhaimi Nasir.

The other five missing government-aligned MPs came from Muda, GPS, GRS, and two independents — rounding out a list of eight backbenchers whose empty seats cost Anwar his biggest reform win.

DAP, Anwar’s most loyal coalition partner, showed up in full force and wants zero blame attached to them for this failure.

All 40 of their MPs were in their seats and voted yes, but it wasn’t enough, and now DAP secretary general Anthony Loke wants civil society and voters to condemn and question absent MPs.

Why UMNO Doesn’t Want This Bill?

Two votes short. Zero no votes. Forty-four MPs sat in the room and chose not to raise their hands, thirty-two didn’t show up at all, and the final count landed at precisely 146 — a margin so surgical it strains belief that this was accidental.

UMNO’s calculus appears simple: a law limiting the PM to 10 years doesn’t just apply to Anwar — it applies to every future UMNO leader who makes it back to Putrajaya, and after 60 years of unchecked executive power, they have no intention of signing that option away.

Hishammuddin, who is suspended from Umno for six years in January 2023, and his colleagues didn’t need to vote no — they just needed to not be there, and they weren’t.

This was the Madani Government’s first-ever failed constitutional amendment, and while Anwar can try again, the damage is done — his coalition has shown the country exactly how fragile unity government unity really is when it counts.

Political observers across Malaysia are asking the same question out loud: was this really just bad scheduling, or did someone count the numbers and make sure the bill landed exactly two votes short — close enough to look like bad luck, but deliberate enough to send a message?

Anwar can try again, but the damage is already done.

His coalition has shown the country — and the world — that when it really matters, unity government unity has its limits.