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Malaysia
This Week in AsiaOpinion
Wong Chin-Huat
Wong Chin-Huat

Opinion | Why Malaysia needs a ‘confidence and supply’ government, not a state of emergency

  • If PM Muhyiddin Yassin can get the support of 40 or more opposition MPs, coalition partner Umno’s 39 seats would lose their blackmail power
  • A confidence and supply arrangement would produce a stable government scrutinised with the strongest ever opposition, argues Wong Chin Huat

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Motorists drive in front of the prime minister's office building in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: AP
Wong Chin-Huatin Malaysia
When Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin went on Friday to seek an audience with Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the nation’s king, he was expected to announce the proclamation of a state of emergency in the name of fighting Covid-19.

His cabinet had made the decision that morning in a special meeting attended by security chiefs, but at the National Security Council meeting with the king, Muhyiddin failed to obtain royal consent.

Instead, Sultan Abdullah will meet his eight fellow sultans – representing Malaysia’s nine Malay states – to take a collective decision on the matter.

While constitutional experts say that the king has no discretionary power over emergency proclamations and must follow the executive’s advice, the sultans do enjoy vast informal powers and command much respect – especially among ethnic Malays. This has increased significantly since the long-dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and its ruling Barisan Nasional coalition began their electoral decline starting in 2008.

Barisan Nasional supporters pictured in Malaysia before the 2018 elections. Photo: Handout
Barisan Nasional supporters pictured in Malaysia before the 2018 elections. Photo: Handout
A state of emergency has been proclaimed in many countries in their fight against Covid-19, but it would be naive or deceptive to compare Malaysia with Spain, which imposed a state of emergency on Madrid earlier this month, or France, which is considering extending its emergency until February.
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