79 Candles, One Hospital Bed, Two Lost States And Five Rebel MPs: Happy Birthday, Prime Minister
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim marks his 79th birthday today (10 August), hospitalised for medical procedures, as his coalition records consecutive state election losses and five of his own MPs publicly break ranks.
The Prime Minister’s Department issued a gold-lettered birthday greeting this morning.
The Prime Minister is in hospital.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim turns 79 today (10 August).
His senior press secretary confirmed he is undergoing planned medical examinations and procedures under a specialist team, with a minimum two-day observation period before a return to official duties.
No further details on the nature of the procedures were disclosed.
The birthday falls at the end of what has been, by measurable indicators, one of the most difficult stretches of Anwar’s two-year-plus tenure.
The Trouble Did Not Wait for the Birthday to Pass
Just over a week ago, his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition lost control of Negeri Sembilan and before that, a heavy defeat at Johor in July.
Both losses point to the same pattern: a Malay electorate shifting away from the reform coalition that brought Anwar to power in November 2022.
The maths is straightforward, the trajectory is not in his favour.
The pressure is not only external.
On Sunday (9 August) — one day before his birthday — five MPs from his own party, PKR, issued a public statement criticising the distribution of constituency development funds.
The statement included the phrase: “Malaysia does not belong to Anwar.”
That sentence was written by members of his own party.
Separately, DAP — PH’s largest component by parliamentary seats — holds its national congress this weekend (16 August).
Delegates are expected to debate whether continued participation in the government remains tenable given the pace of reform delivery.
5 MP PKR Beri Ingatan Pada PM: Peruntukan Awam Bukan Wang Parti #MGFlash Isu sekatan akses portal peruntukan khas (MyKHAS) terhadap tiga ahli parlimen PKR, Lee Chean Chung, Wong Chen dan Rodziah Ismail Kesemua mereka, dan dua lagi ahli parlimen parti itu, S Kesavan dan Zahir Hassan, mengingatkan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, bahawa peruntukan awam bukan wang poket parti. #malaysiagazette #PKR
The Prime Minister’s Department greeting, issued this morning, reads:
Semoga YAB Dato’ Seri sentiasa dilimpahkan kesejahteraan, rahmat dan keberkatan oleh Allah SWT.
May YAB Dato’ Seri always be blessed with prosperity, mercy and blessings by Allah SWT.
It is signed by the entire staff of Jabatan Perdana Menteri.
Anwar was born in 1947 in Penang.
He served as Deputy Prime Minister under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before his removal in 1998, followed by imprisonment the following year.
The father of six children was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia on 24 November, 2022 — at the age of 75, hence his nickname PMX, a play on both his Roman numeral designation as the 10th Prime Minister and his own initials.
