KUALA LUMPUR – Umno is expected to press Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to resign and dissolve Parliament during a special cabinet meeting today, people with knowledge of the matter tell The Vibes, after the prime minister was yesterday given the royal snub to enact emergency orders.
The Barisan Nasional lynchpin, which has nine members in cabinet, will be proposing that Muhyiddin “seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to request for the dissolution of Parliament”, a source said.
A general election amid the pandemic can be disastrous as the aftermath of the Sabah election has shown.
But Umno’s suggestion will result in either to call for a snap general election as the only way an election could be suspended is via an emergency decree, or for PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to assume the leadership by showing his numbers, which remain at 121 MPs, said a source.
Anwar, who had said he enjoyed “strong, formidable, convincing” majority to replace Muhyiddin, had presented documents to the king to back up his claim.
It is also understood that earlier today Muhyiddin met with party leaders aligned to him to shore up support but Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi did not show. He was the sole absentee.
Should this gambit fail, insiders said, a group of Umno MPs are considering voting down Muhyiddin’s budget bill that will be brought to Dewan Rakyat on November 6.
“This will lead to having the bill defeated in the Dewan Rakyat.”
Muhyiddin had been pushing for emergency orders since Friday after meeting the Agong to discuss putting the country under draconian rule.
The move immediately garnered pushback from politicians, activists and Malaysians at large with many signing an online petition in protest of emergency orders.
But, in a dramatic turn of events yesterday, the Agong rejected Muhyiddin’s ambition, and instead, told the country’s politicians to stop politicking and focus on combating Covid-19 and reviving the economy.
Muhyiddin, in a statement after, said he respected the Agong’s decision and that his cabinet would “discuss His Majesty’s decree further”.
Well-placed sources, however, said the prime minister considered resigning only to retract that idea after being convinced to stay on by his inner circle, some of whom were teary-eyed.
The narrative that is being played up by camp Muhyiddin is that this cabinet is endorsed by the Agong since His Majesty had called for a stop to politicking and that the Budget was needed to shore up funds for frontliners battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Muhyiddin, who has a razor-thin majority in the Dewan Rakyat, had been pushing for harsh measures as a means to stave off a budget bill defeat, which would automatically translate to a vote of no confidence and the collapse of his government. – The Vibes, October 26, 2020
