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MALAYSIA: Muhyiddin lives another (unconvincing) day

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Parliament held its first parliamentary session under the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday, 18 May, and as expected it avoided hearing the no-confidence motion of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Yassin had ordered the House Speaker to immediately adjourn the session to 13 July after the king’s opening message. But while the Prime Minister was able to dodge the opposition, his political vulnerabilities were evident.

A total of 114 MPs sat on the government side, providing the ruling National Alliance (PN) with what seemed to be a three-seat majority in the 222-member parliament. However, one MP later said that his designated seat had been set among the backbenchers of PN although his single-seat United Sarawak Party was still part of the opposition at both federal and state levels, thus bringing PN’s majority back down to two.

On Sunday, Yassin appeared to have made some political ground when the members of PN (two coalitions and four parties) announced that they signed an agreement formalizing the coalition. However, the memorandum they agreed upon only provided broad policy statements on economic principles, race relations and the need for sustaining social welfare and did not mention political and electoral cooperation. This will likely sustain the apprehension among members of Yassin’s party, Bersatu, that they would gradually be shunted to the side, which makes them vulnerable to what will likely be Mahathir’s continued entreaties over the next two months.

During his speech, the Malaysian king made an appeal for the country’s politicians to “not drag the country again into political uncertainty when the citizens are already facing various problems and a difficult future due to the Covid-19 pandemic.” The Malaysian monarch does not have the political or social clout of his Thai counterpart. Therefore, while his message may help Yassin because it could support sentiments to avoid political instability, its political value beyond the next few weeks is not assured.

The opposition is not without its own issues, however — leaked recordings of the meetings of the erstwhile ruling coalition Alliance of Hope (PH) in February, just before the government collapse, reveal highly vocal internal debates as to when Mahathir would hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim. Mahathir had apparently agreed to give up power after the November APEC meeting, but some Anwar allies were pushing for an earlier transition.

Although both opposition leaders reconciled early in May, the question of how strong the alliance is and whether it can ultimately resolve the question of Anwar’s succession should PH regain power may also weigh negatively on the public and, ultimately, affect the decision of Bersatu politicians on whether to jump ship from the current government.

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MALAYSIA: Muhyiddin lives another (unconvincing) day

Parliament held its first parliamentary session under the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday, 18 May, and as expected it avoided hearing