Is Malaysia in crisis after new PM signs in?

Malaysia put an end to a week-long political crisis that saw the country lose Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as PM.

The week ended with a saw a surprise appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister.

This got Dr Mahathir on his toes. The good old doctor resigned from his post on Monday 24 after he rejected a deadline for his quitting power.

As the Prime Minister of the Pakatan Harapan, Mahathir promised to step down in 2020. But that was for May 2020. However, he pushed the exit date to ‘after’ November 2020.

But the coalition under him, Pakatan Harapan wanted him to quit earlier. They made a compromise giving him what he was aiming for, that is a longer stay as PM.

However, he decided to call it quits after his party, the Bersatu, pressed him to join the opposition in a backdoor coalition in power.

This would have meant getting rid of three partners from the Pakatan.

DEEPENING CRISIS

The crisis that started with his resignation is far from over if we were to believe Mahathir.

The 94-year-old rejects a decision by the king to pick his party rival as the next prime minister.

Mahathir insists he has enough backing to take back the post of PM. But the King of Malaysia did not buy into his arguments.

Enough was enough, it seems, for the King who maintained his decision to go forward with Muhyiddin as PM.

Mahathir nominated Muhyiddin as interior minister in his cabinet formed in 2018 after a shock victory against the ruling Barisan Nasional.

Both Mahathir and Muhyiddin are from the same Barisan Nasional, which they dumped to form the Bersatu in 2016.

Now Mahathir is saying he feels betrayed by Muhyiddin who came from behind to win the vote of confidence from the King.

Nevertheless, Muhyiddin will perhaps face a motion of no confidence in the legislative assembly. That is if what Mahathir is saying, is correct.

The elderly statesman is saying he has enough MPs backing him to return as PM.

ELECTIONS?

Malaysia may actually face fresh elections this year if Muhyiddin does not have a majority in Parliament.

The ex-PM Mahathir has challenged Muhyiddin to prove he has a majority to form a government.

Mahathir published a list of names of MPs he says are in support of his bid to become PM again.

There are the names of 112 MPs in the list. They are mostly from Anwar Ibrahim’s Party and the PH coalition.

Only six are from Mahathir’s Bersatu party. They abandoned Muhyiddin to follow their boss back to the PH.

UMNO IS BACK

With Muhyiddin winning against the odds, it is the United Malays National Organisation or Umno that is back in power.

The Umno forms part of a broader-based government with the Islamists from the PAS in towing.

The Umno is the party of Najib Razak, the fallen PM. Najib lost the elections in 2018.

With Mahathir relinquishing the post as PM on Monday, he inadvertently made way for Umno to regain power.

Najib is facing trial in Malaysia for money laundering and abuse of power. His long stint as PM is rigged with accusations of siphoning money.

The money was planted in the 1MDB, a sovereign entity, controlled by Najib. The money flow shows Najib received some of the money from the 1MDB or companies related to the 1MDB.

With the Umno back in power, it is possible the ex-premier may not face jail after all.