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News > Malaysian

Malaysia Forms New Gov't Amid Deep Political Crisis

  • Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has agreed with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as the country's new prime minister who was scheduled to be sworn in on Sunday.

    Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has agreed with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as the country's new prime minister who was scheduled to be sworn in on Sunday. | Photo: Xinhua

Published 9 March 2020
Opinion

The new political chapter follows the fall of the coalition government Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), which won the elections in 2018 and brought about the first change of power in the country in the last six decades.

Malaysia’s new prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the members of his government Monday amid a deep political crisis and political power struggles.

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Muhyiddin, 72, presented his new cabinet after receiving the formal approval from Malaysia’s king Sultan Abdullah of Pahang. He was formally sworn into office by the monarch at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur in March 1.

His new cabinet includes members of the National Front coalition, which was defeated in 2018 elections amid corruption allegations of then-leader and prime minister Najib Razak, who is currently being tried in Malaysian courts.

The new political chapter follows the fall of the coalition government Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), which won the elections in 2018 and brought about the first change of power in the country in the last six decades.

Malaysia has seen weeks of intense political instability that began on Feb. 24 with the resignation of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 94 - although he remained in office as an interim leader until March 1.

On the same day, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) suddenly quit the center-left coalition Pakatan Harapan.

The announcement of Muhyiddin as the new leader came hours after Mahathir said he had the numbers needed to be the next PM, and the Pakatan Harapan coalition announced their support.

Muhyiddin, who was not officially in the polls to succeed Mahathir, managed to seize power thanks to support from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main party of the National Front.

The new leader was dismissed from his position as deputy prime minister in 2015 after he confronted Razak for his handling of the corruption scandal.

Muhyiddin was Malaysia's home affairs minister from the historic victory in 2018 until 24 February and held other ministerial positions during his long political career.

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