Muhyiddin secures key victory after parliament approves 2021 budget

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin secured a key victory on Thursday as parliament approved his administration's 2021 budget, ensuring his political survival amid a health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Parliament passed the budget by a voice vote, leaving it unclear exactly how many of the 222 lawmakers supported the government's first budget since Mr Muhyiddin emerged as the leader of a new coalition in March.

The government tabled the country's largest-ever budget three weeks ago, in a bid to bring the economy out of its first recession in over a decade and to manage the health fallout from Covid-19, as a spike in infections since September caused cumulative cases to rise over four-fold to nearly 60,000 as of Wednesday.

If parliament had rejected the budget it could have triggered a political crisis. It was the first real test for Mr Muhyiddin's wafer thin majority. His coalition has been beset by infighting, and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been impatient for a chance to test whether Mr Muhyiddin still commanded support.

Mr Muhyiddin had earlier called for cross-party support for his government's budget, after the king decreed that all lawmakers should give their full backing for the government's spending plans.

On Tuesday, 20 members of the executive from his ruling coalition's largest bloc, which is led by the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) former ruling party, pledged support for Mr Muhyiddin and his budget.

But the premier faces dissent in Umno, whose backing remains tenuous after former leader and Prime Minister Najib Razak attempted to broker conditional support for Mr Anwar from among the party's lawmakers.

"Nothing is certain at this stage. The fact that members of the administration had to declare their support suggests that not all of the backbenchers are for the budget," said Adib Zalkapli, Malaysia director with political risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia.

REUTERS