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KUALA LUMPUR – The political storm that had threatened to derail the Malaysian government receded somewhat in the early hours of Tuesday (October 27) after the Umno leadership decided to continue to extend its support to the Perikatan Nasional administration.
The decision was made after a marathon meeting of the Supreme Council of Umno that lasted until after midnight on Monday, and a day of great drama in which there were mixed signals, including suggestions that Umno might seek to replace the embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin. Yassin.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin, himself, had contemplated resigning over an actual rejection of his request for emergency power, The Straits Times learned.
The king, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, had decreed that politicians should not threaten the stability of the Muhyiddin government and allow it to move forward with the fight against the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
A change of government seemed very much on the cards, with marathon meetings during the day, until the Umno high council announced after midnight that party deputies would continue to support the NP government.
The statement does not explicitly endorse Mr. Muhyiddin.
The parliamentarians of Umno will continue to support the PN government.
“Umno calls for improvements in the principles of cooperation that should focus on the values of respect and political consensus,” said the statement issued by the party’s chairman, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Prior to this, ST had learned that Muhyiddin had considered resigning on Sunday night after the King rejected his proposal, but close allies persuaded him to stay until a solution is found.
“Muhyiddin was shaken by the king’s rejection, but he does not want to follow in Mahathir’s footsteps,” said a source, referring to how the resignation of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad left Malaysia in political chaos for a week earlier. for Muhyiddin to take over. On March 1.
The prime minister met yesterday with party leaders from his pact with the PN, but a notable absentee was Umno president Zahid, who in recent weeks has threatened to withdraw his party’s support for Muhyiddin.
The Prime Minister then chaired a special Cabinet meeting at 11.30 am.
Zahid, who had skipped the PN meeting, saying he was not feeling well, chaired a meeting of the 43 parliamentarians of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition led by Umno yesterday afternoon. His ministers also arrived at Umno headquarters after the cabinet meeting.
When asked if the resignation of Mr. Muhyiddin was on the agenda of the Umno meeting, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said: “That is what we are discussing … we discussed how to move forward.”
Former Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Facebook that he proposed that Umno back opposition leader Anwar and his Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact, but that he should exclude DAP.
The supreme council, the highest decision-making body of the Umno, said last night that it had rejected this proposal.
It met yesterday at 8.30 pm, immediately after an evening conference by the party’s heads of state. The meeting ended shortly after midnight.
The plan to call an emergency was apparently to allow the government to tackle the pandemic without political distractions, but critics have dismissed it as a ploy by Muhyiddin to stay in power, given that the prime minister’s slim majority in Parliament is will test when MPs will meet to vote on the budget next month.
An emergency would have allowed Parliament to be suspended before the crucial vote on the 2021 Budget next month.
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