Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Tensions in Malaysian politics are heating up. This time, the opposition remained adamant in withdrawing its support from Prime Minister (PM) Muhyiddin Yassin when the PM asked for their support.
Citing Reuters, in a speech Friday (13/8/2021), Muhyiddin admitted for the first time that he did not have a majority and urged opposition lawmakers to back him in a vote of confidence. He stated that this was important in dealing with Covid-19 in the country.
Instead, Muhyiddin promised several things to the opposition. It promised to amend the constitution to limit the prime minister’s term to two terms within five years.
In addition, it also promised to introduce “anti-hopping” laws in order to prevent elected officials from jumping on its supporters ’party. And it also ensures that the minimum voter age is immediately lowered to 18 from 21.
This was rejected by the opposition party. The largest opposition bloc, Pakatan Harapan, said that Muhyiddin was now fragile.
“This is the first time in Malaysia’s history that a prime minister admits that he has lost majority support but continues to publicly appeal to the opposition’s support,” the alliance said.
Another bloc, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) criticized Muhyiddin’s offer. They call it a form of political bribery.
“UMNO cannot consider all offers from someone who no longer has legitimacy” as prime minister, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a statement.
Currently, many parties are criticizing and asking the Prime Minister (PM) Muhyiddin Yassin to step down due to his maneuver on the state of national emergency and the restriction of public movement that he did unilaterally. In fact, the Raja of Malaysia is also known to reprimand Muhyiddin several times about his decision.
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