.jpg)
By Mihar Dias October 2026
There is a new pundit in town, and he has the confidence of a man who has never been invited to set the date. Opposition Leader Hamzah Zainudin has told BFM that Anwar will call the election by August next year, because the unity government is "already breaking up." https://newswav.com/A2610_cXEL3j?s=A_oF2tW6y&language=en
Then, with the care of a bomoh who wants to keep his licence, he added that whether it happens or not, he doesn't know.
That is a prophecy with a money-back guarantee. Rain tomorrow, he says, unless it's sunny. Bring an umbrella, or don't.
In fairness, the man has a point. Anyone who has watched PH and Umno lately knows this marriage is held together by ministerial cars and mutual fear of the alternative. They share a cabinet table by day and a Johor campaign trail by night, and they are visibly less than thrilled with each other. When PH lawmakers start poking at the Zahid cases while Zahid sits in the same cabinet and calls the Budget "very good," that is not a coalition. That is a hostage situation with catering.
But here is where our new soothsayer runs into trouble. A prediction about when Anwar will call the election has one tiny flaw, which is that Anwar decides when Anwar calls the election. Hamzah is reading tea leaves in a teapot the Prime Minister is holding.
The evidence, we are told, is the Election Commission's allocation rising from RM167 million to RM367 million. https://newswav.com/A2610_cXEL3j?s=A_oF2tW6y&language=en
Indeed, an agency's budget more than doubling is suspicious. The last time something doubled this fast in Malaysia, it was the price of teh tarik. Though in the EC's defence, GE15 reportedly cost RM725 million, so RM367 million is less "we're calling it" and more “we'd like to keep the lights on.”
Then there is the SEA Games theory: Anwar rides a wave of national pride and calls the polls right after the closing ceremony. It is a beautiful plan, and it assumes the voter who is furious about rice prices will be soothed by a gold medal in sepak takraw. Perhaps. Malaysians are forgiving people. But it also assumes our athletes win on schedule, which is a lot to ask of anyone, including the Treasury.
Meanwhile, Umno, the supposedly fractured partner, has been demanding snap polls, emboldened by its wins against PH in the state elections. So the junior partner wants an election now, the opposition leader predicts one in August, and the Prime Minister says he is "open to considering." https://newswav.com/A2610_cXEL3j?s=A_oF2tW6y&language=en
Everyone is calling for the same thing, and nobody wants to be the one who pushes the button. It's like a group of friends at a mamak stall all insisting someone else should pay.
Here is my own prediction, offered with no guarantee and no warranty. The election will be called when Anwar calculates that PH loses less by going than by staying. Not a day sooner, and certainly not because a man on BFM said so. Politicians do not dissolve Parliament to prove an opponent right.
So welcome to the punditry, Datuk Seri. Your analysis of the tension is sharp and your date is a coin toss. That puts you in excellent company. Half the country's political commentators have been doing exactly that since 2022, and the other half are me.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
