Malaysia PM seeks backing from opposition before confidence vote

Kuala Lumpur

EMBATTLED Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin sought bipartisan support from opposition parties on Friday, ahead of the confidence vote in Parliament next month.

This would pave the way for a more stable and inclusive government to be formed after the confidence vote, he said in a televised address in the early evening. A cross-party agreement could be discussed next week among party leaders, he added. "This will allow the government of the day to continue managing the pandemic until the time is right to hold an election and return the mandate to the people," he said, pledging to call for a general election by July next year.

Mr Muhyiddin has been under pressure to expedite the confidence vote to prove his government's legitimacy. This is after lawmakers from the largest party in the ruling coalition, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), retracted support for his administration earlier this month.

He acknowledged he had lost the support of "several" lawmakers and that the easy way out was for him to resign. However, that would undermine the government's plan to reach herd immunity by October and endanger the lives of the people, he said. "I thought, given that not a single other MP has the support of the majority right now, a new prime minister cannot be appointed," he said. "When a prime minister cannot be appointed, then a Cabinet cannot be appointed and a new government cannot be formed."

Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan had, earlier on Friday, invited all lawmakers who rejected Mr Muhyiddin to back Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister. Pakatan Harapan said that 120 of the nation's 220 lawmakers did not support Mr Muhyiddin as premier, and suggested that they hold talks together to form an "inclusive, just and progressive" government where all parties were treated fairly.

Several opposition lawmakers quickly took to Twitter to express their objection against Mr Muhyiddin's proposal.

Mr Muhyiddin also proposed parliamentary reforms while appealing to the opposition to back him. These include providing all lawmakers with the same annual allowance, regardless of party affiliation, and bringing the benefits for the opposition leader on par with a senior minister.

Mr Muhyiddin said that his administration will table bills to limit the premiership to two terms and introduce legislation to ban party-hopping should he get support from more than two-thirds of the house. He was flanked by nine colleagues at the briefing, including Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yakoob and Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

"If my proposal for bipartisan cooperation is accepted, I will call for a special parliament sitting to table the confidence vote soon," Mr Muhyiddin said. "I give my assurance I will take honorable and constitutional action to resolve the political turmoil." BLOOMBERG