Malaysia's PM names new deputy as Parliament set to reconvene

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA'S Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has promoted two senior ministers in his Cabinet as he seeks to win over a major coalition partner before the country's suspended Parliament reconvenes later this month.

Mr Muhyiddin appointed Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as his deputy, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, while Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein has been promoted to senior minister and will take over Mr Ismail's security portfolio.

The changes have been presented to the country's King and are effective immediately, the statement said.

The appointments come days after Mr Muhyiddin agreed to reconvene the Parliament for five days this month to discuss the Covid recovery plan amid growing pressure from the opposition parties and the monarch Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad, who made repeated calls in June for Parliament to reopen before the emergency expires on Aug 1.

Daily cases have nearly doubled since Mr Muhyiddin imposed a state of emergency in January, sparking criticism over the government's response. The country counted a little over 7,000 new infections on Wednesday, near the highest in a month.

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Analysts say the promotions may be aimed at placating the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the largest bloc in the coalition, after the party last month issued an ultimatum for the government to lift a months-long suspension on Parliament. Both Mr Ismail and Mr Hishamuddin come from Umno.

The Umno supreme council was due to hold a meeting on Wednesday night to decide among other things whether to continue backing Mr Muhyiddin's Perikatan Nasional coalition.

The move is "a strategic arrangement by the PM to arrange the people in his camp to succeed him if there's political turmoil before or after Parliament reconvenes and he loses his position", said Liew Wui Chern, a political analyst and lecturer at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Umno's support is key for Mr Muhyiddin to maintain the razor-thin majority he cobbled together to emerge as prime minister last year. BLOOMBERG