COMMENT | In the past few days, several opinion leaders have emerged to defend the rumoured appointment of embattled Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as deputy prime minister. They try to appear as realists, arguing that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has no choice.

If this bleak picture is indeed the reality, then the Anwar government would face three survival threats within a year, two involving Zahid’s own survival.

The first is the Umno party election which must be held by May 19, 2023, at the latest.

The second is the court verdict on Zahid’s Yayasan Akalbudi embezzlement case, which may come before or after the party election.

The third is the mid-term state election for the six Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional (PN) states, which may happen latest by September but possibly earlier.

If DPM Zahid is so indispensable to the Anwar government, what happens if...