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The PM’s Hernia and the Government’s Political Hernia
By Mihar Dias August 2026
You have to admire Malaysian politics.
It has a remarkable ability to turn one ordinary day into a complete political drama.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister had a hernia.
Then he had an operation.
Then one of his MPs resigned.
Then he sued a PAS leader for defamation.
All in a day.
If this were a television drama, the producer would probably be accused of overdoing the plot.
But this is Malaysia.
We don't need TV mini series popular on Netflix.
We have Parliament.
And unlike Netflix, our political drama is not scripted — although sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference.
Let us begin with the Prime Minister's hernia.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim underwent successful surgery for an abdominal para-umbilical hernia. https://newswav.com/A2608_lHBgK9?s=A_rfgNimH&language=en
Thankfully, the operation went well.
We should wish him a speedy recovery.
At 79, the Prime Minister has every right to discover that the human body, unlike a political party, eventually demands servicing.
The doctors repaired the physical hernia.
Unfortunately, nobody has yet invented a laparoscope for the political variety.
And judging from yesterday's news, the Prime Minister may need one.
Because while Anwar was recovering from his operation, Wong Chen resigned as the Member of Parliament for Subang. https://newswav.com/A2608_L5y485?s=A_kfv780K&language=en
That makes him the third PKR MP to leave Parliament in less than four months.
Three.
In football, losing three players in a short period would cause the coach to call an emergency meeting.
In politics, the Prime Minister calls it democracy.
Of course, Wong Chen's departure is not quite the same as a footballer transferring to another club.
He is not joining another political party.
He is simply walking away from the job.
Which is perhaps even more alarming.
A politician who leaves because he has decided that Parliament is no longer where he wants to spend the remaining years of his life is a rather uncomfortable reminder that not everyone is addicted to the honourable title, the official car, the allowances, the endless functions and the opportunity to have one's photograph taken cutting ribbons.
Wong Chen has even indicated that the "Yang Berhormat" title will disappear from his billboards and correspondence.
Now that is unusual.
Malaysians normally collect titles.
They do not return them.
Give a politician one title and he wants another.
Give him a Datukship and he starts looking at Datuk Seri.
Give him a ministerial position and he begins wondering whether there is a senior ministry available.
Give him a government-linked company and he may start wondering what else comes with it.
And here is Wong Chen saying, in effect:
“Keep the title. I'm going home.”
Perhaps there is a lesson there.
Then came the lawsuit
As if the resignation were not enough, Anwar has also sued PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man over allegedly defamatory remarks. https://newswav.com/A2608_8Gwe5y?s=A_nx2jyDx&language=en
This is becoming another Malaysian political tradition.
Politicians say something outrageous.
The other politician says it is defamatory.
The first politician says he was merely exercising his democratic right.
The second says he was exercising his right to sue.
Lawyers enter.
Reporters arrive.
Supporters cheer.
Facebook explodes.
And eventually the whole thing ends up before a judge.
It is a wonderful system.
The politicians generate the accusations.
The lawyers generate the legal bills.
The media generates the headlines.
The supporters generate the abuse on social media.
And the courts are left to determine what, if anything, actually happened.
One might almost call it a national economic ecosystem.
But there is something serious underneath the comedy
The jokes are easy.
The arithmetic is not.
Anwar's government depends on a broad coalition of parties that have historically spent considerable energy attacking one another.
They are together today because politics has a strange way of converting former enemies into present-day partners.
But coalitions are like marriages.
The wedding photograph is beautiful.
The honeymoon is wonderful.
Then somebody discovers that the other person has completely different ideas about money, relatives, holidays and who is supposed to take out the rubbish.
Eventually someone says:
“I need space.”
In politics, "space" can mean leaving the party.
Or Parliament.
Or the coalition.
Or simply refusing to turn up when the government needs your vote.
That is why the loss of an MP should not be dismissed as merely one person leaving.
In a Parliament where every number matters, one seat is not just one seat.
It is one fewer vote.
And once politicians begin counting backwards, everybody becomes nervous.
The government says:
“We are stable.”
The opposition says:
“They are collapsing.”
The government says:
“We have a strong majority.”
The opposition says:
“Then why are your MPs leaving?”
The government says:
“Because democracy.”
The opposition says:
“Exactly.”
And the public says:
“Can somebody please fix the price of nasi lemak?”
The timing could not be more Malaysian
There is something almost poetic about the Prime Minister being in hospital while political trouble is developing outside.
The doctors were concerned about the Prime Minister's abdomen.
His political advisers were probably more concerned about his numbers.
One team was monitoring his blood pressure.
Another was monitoring the parliamentary arithmetic.
One was asking:
“How is the patient?”
The other:
“How many MPs do we have left?”
And somewhere in Putrajaya, someone probably had two spreadsheets open.
One showing the Prime Minister's medical progress.
The other showing the government's majority.
The first was probably easier to understand.
The real threat is not the hernia
Anwar's physical hernia is treatable.
Political hernias are much more complicated.
They occur when pressure builds up inside a political system and something starts pushing through a weak spot.
That sounds suspiciously like Malaysian politics.
Pressure builds.
Party discipline weakens.
Ambitions emerge.
Old grievances return.
New alliances form.
Somebody gets angry.
Somebody resigns.
Somebody threatens to sue.
And suddenly the government discovers that what looked like a solid political wall has a few cracks in it.
The opposition, naturally, is delighted.
Oppositions do not need to win every battle.
They simply need the government to look vulnerable.
That is when the predators begin circling.
Not necessarily because they can bring down the government tomorrow.
But because every crack provides an opportunity.
And politics, like nature, does not waste opportunities.
Perhaps Anwar should take the doctors' advice
Rest.
Recover.
Take things slowly.
Avoid unnecessary exertion.
Unfortunately, none of these instructions apply to a Prime Minister.
A Prime Minister cannot say:
“Sorry, I am still recovering. Can we postpone the political crisis until next Tuesday?”
The opposition will not agree.
The newspapers will not agree.
The political parties will not agree.
And certainly not social media.
The moment the Prime Minister coughs, somebody will announce that the government is collapsing.
If he walks briskly, somebody will say he is campaigning.
If he walks slowly, somebody will say he is weak.
If he takes leave, somebody will ask whether he can still govern.
If he works, somebody will accuse him of neglecting his health.
Being Prime Minister is probably the only job in the country where even having a hernia becomes a political statement.
And so we arrive at the great Malaysian paradox
Anwar came into office promising reform.
That promise remains important.
But reform is not performed in a laboratory.
It is attempted inside a political system populated by human beings.
And human beings have ambitions.
They have egos.
They have friends.
They have enemies.
They have constituencies.
They have political calculations.
And, occasionally, they have enough of one another.
That is the uncomfortable reality every Prime Minister eventually discovers.
The Prime Minister may command the Cabinet.
He may lead the coalition.
He may have a formidable political machine.
But he cannot command loyalty forever.
Loyalty has to be renewed.
Sometimes every morning.
Yesterday was therefore a rather useful reminder.
The Prime Minister had his hernia repaired.
But the government may have discovered that its political hernia requires a different kind of treatment.
There is no surgeon for that.
There is only leadership.
And perhaps a little humility.
Meanwhile, Wong Chen has gone home, PAS is preparing for another political battle, lawyers are sharpening their pens and Malaysians are watching the parliamentary numbers like punters watching a horse race.
The Prime Minister, one hopes, will recover quickly.
But when he returns to Putrajaya, he may discover that the political patient has not been resting.
It has been running around.
And perhaps that is the real irony of yesterday.
The doctors managed to repair the Prime Minister's hernia.
Now somebody has to figure out how to repair the government's.
Good luck with that.
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!
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