When in late September Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim announced that he had secured a "strong, formidable and convincing" to grab power from the Perikatan Nasional government lead by Muhyiddin Yassin, he inadvertently set the current parliamentary session as the battle ground for a contest between the two main political forces. What has today’s failure to defeat the Budget and the government of the day signal for Malaysian politics. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Bridget Welsh, Asia Research Institute, University of Nottingham Malaysia.