Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
National Malay Unity Organization Party (UMNO), Malaysia’s largest political party, said it was withdrawing the support of the Perikatan Nasional government coalition and urged the Malaysian Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, resigned because he was considered to have failed to handle the pandemic corona virus (Covid-19).
Reported The Straits Times, Thursday (8/7), UMNO President, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, stated that Muhyiddin failed to fulfill his promise to the party to address economic recovery and the Covid-19 pandemic. That promise, said Zahid, made UMNO want to give political support to Muhyiddin when he was elected Prime Minister in March last year.
“Obviously this government has failed to meet the aspirations of the people. The failure of this government is very visible. They distorted the declaration of state of emergency, which is seen as a political tactic, and only create misery for the people and the economy,” said Zahid.
Zahid urged Muhyiddin to be replaced by another party until the pandemic was over and general elections could be held.
The UMNO decision was made on Wednesday (7/7) last night, a few hours after Muhyiddin appointed two new offices, namely Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as Deputy Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ismail is the Vice President of UMNO and Hishammuddin is a veteran UMNO politician.
When asked whether UMNO would shift its support to another coalition, Ahmad said they would not support Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister or support the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
On the other hand, Ahmad’s decision, which was supported by the UMNO High Council, made disputes within the party even sharper. This is because some UMNO members still support Muhyiddin.
Member of the Malaysian Parliament from the UMNO faction, Nazri Abdul Aziz, said 25 of the 38 faction members so far have rejected Zahid’s decision. However, Muhyiddin’s position in the government is very vulnerable because if he loses a little support from the parliament, he can be kicked out of office because he does not meet the requirements for the amount of support.
Muhyiddin scheduled a parliamentary meeting to be held on July 26, after being urged by the king of Malaysia.
Muhyiddin became Prime Minister after the Pakatan Harapan coalition fell apart when one of the parties withdrew support for his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.
In the early days, the Muhyiddin government was considered successful in suppressing the spread and rate of Covid-19 infections by implementing a regional lockdown (lockdown) in March last year. However, the public’s perception turned to disappointment after his government re-established a state of emergency and imposed lockdown due to a spike in cases.
In the roadmap drawn up by the Muhyiddin government, the Malaysian economy is expected to fully open from next September with a note that the rate of hospitalization must decrease, intensify vaccinations and reduce the number of cases of Covid-19 infection.
(ayp)
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