Malaysian Leader Set To Resign After Plea For Support Fails

With his last-ditch plan to seek opposition backing for his government rejected, embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Sunday appeared set to resign after failing to cobble up majority support. Mohamad Redzuan Mohamad Yusof, a minister in the Prime Minister's Department, told the Malaysiakini online news portal that Muhyiddin will submit his resignation to the king on Monday.

He said the premier informed members of his Bersatu party at a meeting Sunday that he had exhausted all avenues to sustain his administration and resigning was the last resort. Redzuan couldn't be immediately reached for comment, while Muhyiddin's office kept mum. Over a dozen lawmakers from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the largest party in the ruling alliance, have pulled their support for the government, which is enough to cause its collapse because of its razor-thin majority. Two UMNO ministers have resigned from the Cabinet.

Under Malaysia’s constitution, the prime minister must resign if he loses majority support and the king can appoint a new leader who he believes has the confidence of Parliament. Muhyiddin initially insisted he still has majority support and would prove this in Parliament next month. But in a U-turn Friday, the premier acknowledged he may have lost majority support in Parliament and sought the backing of opposition parties to keep his government from collapsing.

Muhyiddin promised to call general elections by next July and offered a raft of benefits, including proposals to limit the prime minister’s tenure, bolster checks and balances, and perks similar to a senior minister to the opposition leader in return for their support. But all opposition parties rejected the olive branch, calling it open bribery, and demanded that he resign.

Muhyiddin took power in March 2020 after initiating the collapse of the former reformist government that won the 2018 elections. His party joined hands with UMNO and several others to form a new government that is unstable. UMNO has been unhappy with playing second fiddle to Muhyiddin’s smaller party.

Muhyiddin had been ruling by ordinance without legislative approval since January after suspending Parliament under a state of emergency declared to battle the coronavirus. Critics said he used the emergency, which expired on August 1, to avoid a vote in Parliament that would show he had lost a majority of support.

Public anger with his government has mounted after a lockdown imposed in June failed to contain the virus, with daily cases soaring above 20,000 this month. Malaysia has reported more than 1.36 million confirmed infections since the pandemic began and more than 12,000 deaths.