New man at helm in Malaysia; huge challenges remain

IT SPEAKS well of Malaysia's political and social stability that its people were able to ease one leader out of office and get another installed in his place without too much fuss and bother.

Last week, Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister when he sensed that he would lose a confidence vote in Parliament. The once-again dominant party in federal politics, Umno, is back in the saddle now, with Ismail Sabri Yaakob sworn in as prime minister.

Assuming that he can hold on to his support until the next polls, Mr Ismail is taking over at an extremely difficult time for Malaysia. The coronavirus pandemic is still out of control and has hit the country very hard. Malaysia is recording about 22,000 cases daily, with a cumulative total of more than 1.5 million cases since the pandemic began last year. An average of 7.5 per cent of those tested return a positive result. More than 260,000 are under treatment. Over 14,100 people have died from the coronavirus so far. Yet, only 40 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.