The Tamesis
April 7, 2026
Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will ride out the “corporate mafia” storm rather than call early polls in 2026, betting public anger will subside and voters will be forced to consider alternatives to his Pakatan Harapan deal.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been accused of being a “corporate mafia” that uses its wide-ranging powers, including unilaterally freezing bank accounts, to achieve corporate manipulation and takeovers.
The assessment from sources close to Datuk Seri Anwar comes as Rebellion against former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassinmost MPs from his opposition party Bersatu Malaysia followed sacked acting president Hamza Zainuddin out the door.
The implosion made the Islamist party Parti Islam Malaysia (PAS) the dominant opposition party – Mr Anwar’s inner circle believes the prospect could sober up even the most disaffected Pakatan Harapan supporters, who are skeptical of PAS’s technocratic capabilities and theocratic ideals.
A senior PH official told The Straits Times: “Anwar believes that public anger over the ‘corporate mafia’ issue will dissipate over time as voters will wake up to the fact that the alternative is a PAS-led government, otherwise Bersatu will collapse by then.”
But this calculation is risky – New allegations against the MACC continue to emerge, raising the possibility that the scandal could expand over time.
Human Resources Minister Ramanan Ramakrishnan denied on March 25 that he was the lawmaker suspected of receiving 9.5 million ringgit (S$3 million) from market player Victor Chin, one of 10 people detained on suspicion of money laundering between October and January. Mr. Chen has now been released on bail.
The payment is said to be to resolve Mr Tan’s legal dispute with Malaysia’s police force and the embattled anti-corruption agency, which is now at the center of the allegations. widespread abuse.
“This is a dirty remark that tarnishes PKR, its MPs and the government,” Ramanan, the party’s deputy chairman, told a news conference. He also questioned whether Mr Tan and the party’s rebellious former deputy chairman Rafizi Ramli were trying to overthrow Anwar’s government.
Ramanan is the latest figure closely linked to Anwar to be implicated in “corporate mafia” accusations.
Allegations of misconduct at MACC After years of accumulation, Especially against its leader Tan Sri Azam Baki. Despite this, Anwar has been offered three 12-month contract extensions since he came to power in 2022.
But an in-depth report by Bloomberg in February detailing the abuses sparked a national outcry and calls for action. royal commission of inquiry (RCI) – Malaysia is launching its highest-level public inquiry into a matter of national interest – even from within Mr Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Mr Chin welcomed the inquiry and the RCI’s appeal. But his revelations about a boardroom battle that began in 2025 involving two businessmen close to Mr Anwar plunged PKR deeper into controversy.
One company at the center of the battle, NexG, holds lucrative government contracts worth more than RM2.5 billion for the supply of identity documents, including passports, foreign worker identity cards and driving licences.
In late 2025, NexG appointed seven directors who market sources said were aligned with Mr Anwar’s former political secretary, Datuk Seri Farhash Wafa Salvador. Mr Fahash has risen rapidly in Malaysia’s corporate world since Mr Anwar came to power after the 2022 election, holding multiple directorships and owning millions of shares.
NexG founder and then executive chairman Hanifah Noordin claimed the new directors were trying to force him out. He also claimed they planned to subcontract and transfer the company’s intellectual property to HeiTech Padu – a company where Mr Farhash once worked. major shareholder 2024.
In March this year, Raya Aviation, controlled by Datuk Ishak Ismail, who has been close to Mr Anwar since the 1990s, became NexG’s largest shareholder with a 20% stake.
Mr Ishak has since succeeded the director who joined in 2025 and now serves as the company’s executive chairman, with Datuk Hanifah serving as his deputy.
Former Economy Minister Rafizi has harshly criticized the government’s response to the “corporate mafia” incident. He warned that the conspiracy surrounding NexG was a “national security issue” because it involved passports and even identity cards, which he noted gave the holder the right to vote in elections.
“Whoever controls NexG can determine all forms of identification for all official business, from banking to voting, government affairs, and even citizenship,” Rafizi said in a March 27 podcast.
The stakes make the timing issue even more fraught. The general election will be held in early 2028, but there is growing speculation that the national vote could coincide with the Melaka or Johor state polls, or both.
Malacca’s legislature must be dissolved by the end of 2027, and official sources from Johor told The Straits Times that the state’s Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has hinted to allies that they should be prepared to face a vote by August or September 2026.
But if the general election is postponed after the state elections, the chances of Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) improving. sabotage election deal PH with Mr Anwar. The agreement has been in place since they formed a government together in 2022 after Malaysia’s first hung parliament.
Barisan Nasional, led by Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, believes it can retain its two-thirds absolute majority in Malacca and Johor even without help from Pakatan Harapan.
Such an outcome would prompt the once-dominant Umno to end its alliance with Anwar once parliament is dissolved. It will then attempt to regain the premiership that it has held for more than six of the seven decades since independence.
