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KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS, THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will not face a vote of confidence on May 18 as previously scheduled, the Speaker of Parliament said on Wednesday (May 13) , a decision denounced by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as a possible sign that Tan Sri Muhyiddin lacks a parliamentary majority.
“Parliament is not allowed to meet, which means that Muhyiddin does not have the majority support,” Tun Dr Mahathir said in a video message on Facebook.
“There seems to be an attempt to block me from even speaking as a member of Parliament.”
The next session of Parliament is scheduled for July 13 to August 27, but no date has been given for a vote of confidence.
People close to Muhyiddin’s ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance say they have a majority among the 222 MPs.
Last week, the president approved a motion to seek a vote of no confidence in Muhyiddin’s leadership by Dr. Mahathir, 94, who resigned as prime minister in February when his ruling coalition fell apart due to political disputes.
But President Mohamad Ariff, MD Yusof, said in a statement on Wednesday that Muhyiddin later informed him that the government had decided to list only one parliamentary affairs order for the day, the King’s opening speech, “such as the Covid pandemic- 19 has not been completely erased. “
The office of opposition parliamentary leader Anwar Ibrahim said it would address the matter during a Facebook Live session on Thursday.
Muhyiddin, a former colleague of Dr. Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar, was unexpectedly sworn in as Prime Minister on March 1 with the support of Umno, who was defeated by the multi-ethnic coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the last general election. in 2018
Since then, Parliament has not held a single session as the coronavirus led Malaysia to impose movement restrictions.
So far, the country has reported 6,779 coronavirus patients, with 111 deaths.
Malaysia’s motion control order, which entered its 57th day on Wednesday, has been relaxed since last week and most companies are able to reopen, prompting opposition calls to convene Parliament to prove the support of the country’s parliamentarians to the opinion of the PN of Muhyiddin Alliance.
Meanwhile, the internal struggle has continued in two-year Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. Dr. Mahathir is the president of Bersatu and his faction is fighting a larger faction controlled by Muhyiddin, the party president, for control.
Dr. Mahathir and a handful of Bersatu MPs remain allied to PH, while Muhyiddin leads PN.
The Mahathir faction claims that Muhyiddin broke an agreement to stay in PH, abruptly withdrawing from the coalition to join opposition parties Umno, Parti Islam SeMalaysia, a separatist group of parliamentarians from Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
The Muhyiddin faction, on the other hand, claims that Dr. Mahathir knew about the PN formation that would overthrow the PH, and did not oppose it.
Both sides are willing to demonstrate that their narrative stands out.
On Wednesday, an audio recording leaked that supposedly represents the last meeting of the Bersatu Supreme Council before it left the PH.
In the one-minute audio recording, a voice sounded like Mr. Muhyiddin’s was heard saying that Dr. Mahathir had been entrusted with the mandate to remove Bersatu from PH.
If the recording is valid, it would seem to prove that Muhyiddin broke his own party’s consensus.
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