Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is under rising pressure to resign after Malaysia’s king rejected his request to declare emergency rule on Sunday (October 25), a pivotal setback for the premier as he faces a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and divisions within his fragile Perikatan Nasional (PN) ruling coalition.
Parties supporting PN, including the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which earlier this month threatened to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, have since thrown the premier a political lifeline by continuing to prop up his government. But with a key vote on the 2021 budget looming, doubts remain as to how long his administration will last with a narrow majority of 113 out of 222 seats in Parliament.
Under Malaysia’s parliamentary system, failure to pass the budget would be equivalent to a loss of confidence in Muhyiddin, who fears the prospect of rebel lawmakers within his government voting against the bills to collapse his administration and trigger a snap election. Debate on the forthcoming budget is set to commence on November 6.
Muhyiddin met with the nation’s king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, on October 23 to present his case for the proclamation of a state of emergency, purportedly to combat the worsening Covid-19 pandemic. Coronavirus infections are sharply on the rise across Malaysia, with the total number of cases more than doubling to 28,640 in the past month.
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Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
