But Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak looks set to keep his grip on power despite unprecedented political opposition, analysts said.

The opposition to Najib took a high-profile step Friday when Malaysia’s iconic former leader Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister from 1981-2003, joined members of both opposition and ruling parties to sign a declaration calling for Najib’s removal.

Reuters also reported that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who Mahathir removed as deputy prime minister in 1998, issued a statement from jail saying that he supported the push to remove Najib. If Najib is allowed to remain in power, the damage from the scandal related to the deeply indebted state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) will become worse, Mahathir said Friday.

… “Opponents within and outside UMNO are being crippled or threatened one-by-one,” Yang Razali Kassim, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said in a commentary note dated Monday.