By: Kalimullah HassanAs widely expected, Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional last weekend swept to a resounding victory in elections in the populous southern state of Johor across the strait from Singapore, taking 48 of 56 seats and leaving its rival, Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan coalition, with just eight, compounding the prime minister’s hopes to stay in power on the national level in general elections to be held before February 17, 2028.The signs have been clear for a long time. Anwar didn’t become prime minister in 2022 because his coalition won the majority of parliamentary seats. The King proposed a “unity government” in which parties that had just battled it out in a bruising general election, propagating different ideologies and different dreams, were coerced into supporting an uneasy coalition government which, to its credit, has lasted three and a half years as Anwar, a gifted public speaker, persuaded many more politicians to team up with him to avail themselves of the benefits of being in government.Malaysians were fatigued and drained by a massive scandal that had ended the 61-year reign of the Barisan Nasional as well as three successive governments since 2018 and accepted the Anwar coalition, choosing to believe the alternative, an Islamic government headed by the rural Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, or PAS, would have been worse. Buoyed by an international reputation as a moderate Muslim seeking to establish a multiracial government in a country that has long suffered from tense relations between its Malay Muslim majority and its Chinese and Indian minorities, Anwar promised reformasi and stability.The country got neither, signaled almost immediately when Anwar appointed the scandal-scarred United Malays National Organization’s President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, literally on trial at the time for looting his own charitable organization, as his deputy prime minister. The charges mysteriously disappeared, with investigations into several UMNO leaders suddenly slow-walked into oblivion.Anwar went back on his promises. He said there would be no politicians on boards of government-linked companies and asked all who had been appointed before to resign. And subsequently, he proceeded to fill these boards again with politicians. One after another, the promises made during the polls kept being broken. Anwar promised a clean government, but it was anything but clean.In addition, as the leaders of Anwar’s coalition took over ministries, critics say, they displayed overweening arrogance to both the general public and government officials, a mistake in a bureaucracy put in place by 61 years of UMNO leadership and hardly receptive to tone deaf ministers. A promise to reform Malaysia’s education system has seen the schools become more Islamic, with the government actively expanding religious curriculum and implementing policies rooted in Islamic teachings across public schools nationwide.The Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party, the largest party in Anwar’s coalition and for 60 years the loudest voice in criticizing and preaching against corruption, power abuse and good governance, kept silent and reveled, enjoying the perks of power and fame. They paid for it.People saw through them. The talk of “what’s the alternative to Anwar? Surely not PAS?” started floating. The DAP lost every seat it contested in last year’s Sabah state election and Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat won only one (more by default). In Johor, the DAP contested 17 seats and won six. Overall, the Pakatan Harapan coalition was left reeling from a disastrous outcome, winning only eight of the 56 seats it contested.Top DAP leaders, including Secretary-General of DAP Anthony Loke, dismissed the danger signals. The only two who concurred in reports of alarm were the old guard, led by former Party Secretary-General and National Chairman Lim Kit Siang and his son, Lim Guan Eng.It was shortly after that Zahid Hamidi invited all the leaders and members he had expelled a few years earlier to rejoin UMNO, still a member of Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition. That is when Anwar himself was splitting his Parti Keadilan Rakyat by almost openly supporting moves by his more ambitious and crafty leaders to rid themselves of Reform- minded deputy president Rafizi Ramli and his supporters. Anwar lost the support of one-third of his members of parliament, and with that, their already dwindling supporters. Zahid’s actions helped UMNO as several thousand returned to the fold - including the popular Khairy Jamaluddin and Hishamuddin Hussein.This was complicated by the royalty flexing their muscles beyond their constitutional roles, as Asia Sentinel reported on July 10, while Anwar’s PKR became even more splintered. Anwar seemed to bend over backwards to appease, disappointing his pro-reformasi followers by refusing to take a position on Azam Baki, the subject of a massive Bloomberg article accusing him credibly of enriching himself by turning the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission into a protection racket for corrupt businessmen, succumbing to heavy tariffs imposed on the country by the Trump administration in Washington. The disappointments continued.The result – a weary, fatigued voter base, struggling with rising costs and fear of the future – has shown in Sabah and Johor that they’d rather support anyone but Anwar and his coalition. This trend may continue in state elections in Negri Sembilan, in Malacca, and in the coming general elections. It’s not that UMNO has shown it has changed. But it is the devil that people know, and for all of its corruption, it has had six decades of learning how to deliver to voters. Pakatan Harapan, after almost eight years in power, is the devil people have begun to despise because it didn’t deliver on its promises. Malaysia in the past several years has been able to get by because of the fear among moderates that his coalition could be replaced by an Islamic government. Faced with the logic of choosing Anwar’s coalition – the dilemma of complacency – humans have preferred known misery over terrifying freedom and uncertainty.Political parties today spend fortunes on consultants, data, algorithms, influencers, and war rooms. But Anwar and his advisers appear to have lost out on the fact that they are not dealing with machines. They are dealing with humans in a country disillusioned by scandal and unkept promises. A voter can go into the polling booth – if he’s not a committed party man which the majority are not – and change his mind at the last second. Party strategists of today can come up with slogans: “Ini Kali Lah; Jalan Teruih; Keluarga Malaysia; Endless Possibilities…” (This is the Time; The Road to Recovery; Malaysian Family; Endless Possibilities)These are slogans. They don’t put food on the table, nor do they create jobs. Ultimately, that’s what counts; that’s what happened in Johor. The future, probably coming sooner than Anwar’s coalition wants on February 17, 2028, does not look bright.Kalimullah Hassan is a veteran political commentator. A version of this story is posted on his Facebook page.