Malaysia’s Largest Political Party Withdraws Support from PM Muhyiddin Yassin

Kuala Lumpur, MINA – Malaysia’s largest political party United Malay National Organizations (UMNO) on Wednesday withdrew its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and asked him to resign.

In his statement on Wednesday night, UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the decision to withdraw support for Muhyiddin was triggered by the government’s failure to deal with the pandemic effectively, ensure political and economic stability, and win the people’s trust.

“Muhyiddin must make way for the interim prime minister, who will focus on dealing with the pandemic,” Zahid said.l as quoted from Anadolu Agency.

Muhyiddin Yassin’s ruling Perkatan Nasional coalition has a slim majority of 113 seats, 38 of which belong to UMNO.

A minimum of 112 parliamentary seats is required to form a government in Malaysia.

Zahid also accused the government of failing to abuse the state emergency, which was only a political ruse to weaken the people and the country’s economy, as well as rejecting the voice of UMNO, which from the start strongly rejected the decision.

“The government has failed to maintain a parliamentary democratic system to the point of sparing all practices of democratic checks and balances that guarantee the rights and voice of the people are defended,” he said.

The day before, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yasin appointed two UMNO ministers, namely Senior Minister of Defense Ismail Sabri Yaakob as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hishammudin Hussein as Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The step was believed to be Muhyiddin’s attempt to gain UMNO’s trust amid the potential collapse of the Association of National coalition.

Malaysia has been in lockdown since June amid a fresh spike in coronavirus cases.

Malaysia has reported nearly 800,000 cases, the third highest in the region behind Indonesia and the Philippines. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)