Malaysia’s Anwar seizes on haj fund report ahead of Negeri Sembilan election

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has seized on the release of a long-delayed inquiry into the country’s Islamic pilgrimage fund to revive his anti-corruption message just days before the state of Negeri Sembilan holds an election.The move is seen as a calculated bid by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to turn a governance issue against state rival Umno, although observers are divided on whether it would be damaging enough to hurt Malaysia’s oldest Malay nationalist party.Anwar’s latest salvo further illustrates the fragility of uneasy political alliances in the country, where parties lock horns in state polls but govern together at the federal level. Umno has been a dominant force in government for more than six decades until 2018, when it lost the general election, and is now part of the federal unity government led by PH.