Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday narrowly won a motion to boot the parliament speaker, scraping through the first test of his support nearly five months after taking power.
The move came as parliament resumed after months of delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its success could thwart the opposition’s bid of a no-confidence vote against Muhyiddin, analysts said.
Lawmakers engaged in heated debates over Muhyiddin’s unprecedented proposal to replace the house speaker with his own candidate.
Photo: Reuters
Voting later showed the government secured 111 votes, against 109 for the opposition, with one absent and another unaccounted for.
“The vote suggests that Muhyiddin’s government has the numbers to stay in power. Replacing the speaker is crucial because it is the speaker who decides if a vote of no-confidence can go ahead,” said James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at University of Tasmania in Australia.
“The vote also confirms what we know already, that is both sides are very close in terms of numbers and that Muhyiddin’s government is not stable,” Chin said.
Muhyiddin’s legitimacy has been challenged by the opposition since he was sworn in March 1 after a week-long political crisis.
He pulled his ethnic Malay party out of the ruling alliance, triggering its collapse, and formed a Malay-centric government with the opposition, including the party of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who is on trial on multiple graft charges.
Then-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad resigned in protest of the plan, and filed a motion of no confidence against his former party ally.
Chin said the speaker replacement suggested parliament cannot act as an effective check and balance against Muhyiddin.
“Given that the new speaker is nominated by Muhyiddin’s government. I can bet that Mahathir will not to stand a chance in getting rid of Muhyiddin,” Chin said. “Muhyiddin is now in a much stronger political position after this.”
Ruling lawmakers said it was normal procedure to appoint new officers aligned with the new government, but Mahathir said the speaker should be neutral.
He said Muhyiddin’s move was unconstitutional.
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