Muhyiddin Yassin during a live news broadcast on January 12th.
Photographer: Samsul Said / Bloomberg
Photographer: Samsul Said / Bloomberg
Explaining why Malaysia needed to suspend democracy for the first time in half a century to fight the pandemic, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin assured the nation he would not give a military coup.
But it was difficult for his opponents to see the first national emergency since 1969 as anything but a seizure of power. Although the Southeast Asian nation has experienced an increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks along with many other countries, measures to combat the pandemic have generally enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum.
“Don’t hide behind the Covid-19 and load the village with an emergency declaration to save yourself,” Pakatan Harapan, the main opposition bloc in parliament, said in a statement after the announcement.
The only problem easily resolved by the emergency was Muhyiddin’s political problem: some key leaders of the ruling coalition’s largest partner, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), had recently called new elections as soon as possible. . Now, with parliament potentially suspended until August, the prime minister should not worry about the elections soon.
While the movement brings stability to Malaysia for the first time since political fighting earlier last year overthrew a coalition government and brought Muhyiddin to power, it also poses a risk to the country’s democracy. Before the in the last 2018 elections, the ruling coalition itself had ruled for about six decades, often with heavy tactics trying to silence the media and opposition politicians.
Malaysia experienced a last national emergency in 1969, when racial unrest between ethnic Malaysians and Chinese led to the suspension of parliament for two years. The emergency is now “totally unnecessary,” as the criteria for imposing one has not been met and “no parliamentary senate” on either side would block measures to end the pandemic, according to Oh Ei Sun, senior member of the Singapore Institute of Singapore. International affairs.
“If you’re not careful, we’ll move from parliamentary democracy to a rule by dictation,” he said. “It’s addictive: future governments would invoke the state of emergency again.”
Investors were cautious after the announcement, with the country’s ringgit and major stock index declining on Tuesday. A blockade announced on Monday caused Fitch Solutions to cut Malaysia’s economic growth forecast for 2021 to 10% from the previous 11.5%, warning that the restrictions could last for months.
For Muhyiddin, 73, a UMNO army that has played a game of changing allegiance throughout its four-decade political career will be a good opportunity to consolidate power. Since he became prime minister in March 2020, he has faced constant pressure from both his twelve-party coalition and an opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim, who has repeatedly claimed to have the numbers to form a new government.
In October, the King of Malaysia rejected his push to declare an emergency that would have allowed him to avoid a budget vote in parliament that doubled as a test of confidence. But he narrowly survived and the recent rise in virus cases (which reached a record 3,309 on Tuesday) allowed him to convince the king to grant emergency powers this time.
“This period of emergency will provide us with the much needed calm and stability,” Muhyiddin said in a televised speech to the nation on Tuesday. He added that the decree “is not a military coup and the curfew will not be applied.”
“Checkmate”
After the emergency, a UMNO legislator became the second in the last days of the group to declare that it was withdrawing support for Muhyiddin. The party in general was more reserved, and President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the prime minister should only use his emergency powers in measures containing the pandemic and restore parliamentary practices as soon as possible.
“Muhiyiddin Yassin is now safe,” said Awang Azman of Awang Pawi University of Malaya. “When the state of emergency was declared, UMNO had checkmate because nothing significant can be done during the state of emergency.”
Photographer: Samsul Said / Bloomberg
Muhyiddin has been vague about how he will use his new powers. On Tuesday he warned of possible price controls, increased control over public hospitals and a role for the military and police in implementing public health measures. He also promised to hold an election once an independent committee declared that the pandemic had subsided and that voters could go to the polls safely.
Whether Muhyiddin’s Bersatu party will win in the next election now depends largely on how it handles the virus during the emergency rule period. So far, he has failed to find solutions to stop the rise of cases, a result that ironically laid the groundwork for him to implement the emergency and keep his opponents at bay.
“Without a strategy to address Covid-19, they are using these levers of power to stay afloat,” said Bridget Welsh, an associate honorary researcher at the Asia Research Institute, University of Nottingham, Malaysia. “It’s a reflection of instability and will ultimately worsen splits and divisions in a highly polarized society.”
(Updates with more Muhyiddin comments in the 11th paragraph)