Malaysian PM resigns after failing to get majority support
Kuala Lumpur, Aug 16: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin resigned on Monday after less than 18 months in power, apologizing for his shortcomings but blaming those hungry for power.
Muhyiddin conceded that he had lost majority support to govern, making him the country's shortest-ruling leader.
I have tendered my resignation as prime minister and also for the entire Cabinet ... because I have lost the majority support of lower house members, he said in a televised final message after meeting the king.
I take this opportunity to seek forgiveness ... for all my mistakes and weaknesses during my tenure as prime minister. I and my Cabinet colleagues have tried our best to save and protect lives ... in this period of crisis. However, as a human being, we are bound to make mistakes so I apologize."
He said he had hoped to stay on until the country's coronavirus vaccination program is completed and the economy has recovered, but was thwarted by those hungry for power."
Muhyidddin's departure plunges the country into a new crisis amid a worsening COVID-19 outbreak. Political leaders have already begun to jostle for the top post, with his deputy, Ismail Sabri, rallying support to succeed Muhyiddin and keep the government intact.
The palace said the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, accepted Muhyiddin's resignation and appointed him as caretaker prime minister until a successor is found, in line with the constitution.
Sultan Abdullah said a new election is not an option because many parts of the country are COVID-19 red zones and health facilities are inadequate. He urged the nation to stay calm and expressed hope that the political turmoil that has disrupted the country's administration will be swiftly resolved.
The king's role is largely ceremonial in Malaysia, but he appoints the person he believes has majority support in Parliament as prime minister.
Muhyiddin's resignation comes amid mounting public anger over what was widely perceived as his government's poor handling of the pandemic. Malaysia has one of the world's highest infection rates and deaths per capita, with daily cases breaching 20,000 this month despite a seven-month state of emergency and a lockdown since June to tackle the crisis.
Muhyiddin has been ruling on borrowed time. His poor governance, focus on survival politics and unwillingness to acknowledge his failings have led to his undoing, said Bridget Welsh of Malaysia's University of Nottingham, an expert in Malaysian politics.
But his departure also puts Malaysia in unchartered waters. The focus now is on Malaysia having a peaceful transition to a new government that can manage the crisis," she said.
Muhyiddin's government had a razor-thin majority and dodged leadership tests in Parliament from the start. It finally fell when 15 lawmakers from the United Malays National Organization, the biggest party in his alliance, pulled their support for his government. Two UMNO ministers also resigned from the Cabinet before Monday's actions.
Muhyiddin had repeatedly insisted that he still had majority support and would prove it in Parliament next month. But in a U-turn on Friday, he sought opposition backing to shore up his government and promised to call general elections by next July. He also offered concessions including proposals to limit the prime minister's tenure, bolster checks and balances and give a senior minister role to the opposition leader, but his plea was rejected by all parties.
Muhyiddin took a swipe at UMNO leaders who opposed him, several of whom have criminal cases against them.
I could have taken the easy route and sacrificed my principles to remain as prime minister but that is not my choice. I will not compromise with kleptocrats or interfere with the judiciary just to stay in power, he said.
The king will have a tough task picking a new leader because no coalition can currently claim a majority. A three-party alliance which is the biggest opposition bloc has nominated its leader, Anwar Ibrahim, as a candidate. But the bloc has less than 90 lawmakers, short of the 111 needed for a simple majority. That's also less than the 100 lawmakers believed to have backed Muhyiddin.
Other contenders include Deputy Prime Minister Ismail who is from UMNO, but it's unclear if a deal can be struck and if the king will accept it.
Local media said another possible candidate is Razaleigh Hamzah, an 84-year-old prince who was a former finance minister. Razaleigh, an UMNO lawmaker, is seen as a neutral candidate who could unite the warring factions in UMNO.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 96, has called for a national recovery council to be formed and led by professionals to resolve the country's economic and health crises.
Muhyiddin took power in March 2020 after initiating the collapse of Mahathir's reformist government that won 2018 elections. He pulled his Bersatu party out to join hands with the UMNO-led coalition that had led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 but was ousted in 2018 over a multibillion-dollar financial scandal. Mahathir abruptly resigned to protest Bersatu's plan to work with the former government.
Muhyiddin's government was unstable because UMNO was unhappy with playing second fiddle to his smaller party. Muhyiddin halted Parliament for months last year to shore up support. He again suspended Parliament in January and ruled by ordinance without legislative approval under a state of coronavirus emergency that ended Aug. 1.
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
