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The political bloc that ran the country for 60 years until 2018 also said it will not back opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
The largest party in Malaysia’s ruling political alliance has declared its support for Muhyiddin Yassin, providing respite to the prime minister who was facing calls to resign after the king rejected his plan to impose a state of emergency.
The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, which earlier this month threatened to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, said late Monday that it would now back him so that the government could focus its efforts on handling a resurgence of the pandemic. of COVID-19.
Muhyiddin, who has a slim majority in parliament, is under pressure from disgruntled coalition partners demanding more powerful positions and from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who stated earlier this month that he had sufficient support in parliament to form a government.
Malaysians are also upset by the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, after cases spiked in Borneo’s state of Sabah, forcing several areas of the country to return to a partial lockdown, known locally as CMCO.
The country reported a record number of cases on Monday – 1,240 – and the CMCO in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya was extended for two more weeks.
The Muhyiddin government had said an emergency was necessary to control the pandemic, but the king rejected the proposal on Sunday amid a protest among Malaysians. The last national emergency was declared 50 years ago after the race riots in Kuala Lumpur left many dead.
Unlikely alliances
In its latest statement, UMNO also said it would not work with Anwar’s party, rejecting a proposal by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was convicted of corruption in July in the first of a series of cases related to the scandal. multimillionaire. in the state fund 1MDB.
At a Monday meeting of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which is dominated by UMNO, Najib called on the alliance’s parliamentarians to back Anwar, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency.
Najib’s endorsement of Anwar, and Anwar’s willingness to work with Najib, would mark a surprising change in their recent relationship. Anwar’s party was part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition that defeated Najib and BN in May 2018 amid public outrage over the 1MDB scandal.
Muhyiddin has maintained a tenuous alliance with UMNO, whose backing was key in his bid to secure leadership without elections in March, after political disputes led to the resignation of veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister and a week of political turmoil.
The leaders of the UMNO, which had led the country for more than 60 years until its defeat in 2018, are unhappy about playing a secondary role in Muhyiddin’s party, which has fewer seats.
Amid the turmoil, some of the corrupt UMNO leaders, including Najib, have been trying to revive their political fortunes. Muhyiddin broke with UMNO over 1MDB, before joining the Pakatan Harapan coalition. The king appointed him prime minister after being convinced that the former interior minister and former deputy prime minister had the support of parliament to govern.
Parliament will meet next week, and the government’s big test is scheduled for November 6, when the finance minister will present the budget for 2021.
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