KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s king will name a new prime minister as soon as possible but the appointee will have to face a confidence vote in parliament to prove his majority, the palace said in a statement on Wednesday.
Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister on Monday after conceding he had lost his majority in parliament but remains caretaker premier until a successor is named.
He did not face a confidence vote in the 17 months that he held office despite repeated calls to do so.
The resignation has deepened a months-long political crisis as Malaysia grapples with a COVID-19 surge and an economic slump. No political party has a majority in parliament, so the winning candidate has to put together a coalition.
King Al-Sultan Abdullah, the constitutional monarch, will appoint a premier who he thinks can command a majority. He has given members of parliament until 4 p.m. local time (0800 GMT) to submit the name of one candidate they want as premier.
In a statement, the palace said the prime minister appointed by the king must table a motion of confidence in parliament as soon as possible to prove “legitimately that he has the majority.”
The king also asked the various political parties to work together.
“His Majesty... (has) expressed that the unending political turmoil without any full stop has disrupted the government’s governance during a time when we still face the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the palace said.
Malaysia has been in a state of political flux since widespread graft accusations led to the 2018 election defeat of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which had governed for more than 60 years since independence.
Mahathir Mohamad led the opposition to election victory for the first time, but the alliance collapsed from infighting last year.
Muhyiddin then put together a coalition with political parties that were defeated in the polls, including UMNO, but that alliance was also fragile.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Muhyiddin’s deputy and an UMNO politician, emerged as the leading candidate to be the next prime minister.
He has secured a majority from political parties that were in Muhyiddin’s coalition, media reported, citing UMNO officials.
Ismail Sabri spearheaded security policies during the COVID-19 crisis and was promoted to deputy prime minister in July.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was also trying to secure the numbers to form a government, media reported.
Malaysia’s king wants new premier to face confidence vote
https://arab.news/w6b9x
Malaysia’s king wants new premier to face confidence vote
- Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister on Monday after conceding he had lost his majority in parliament
- King Al-Sultan Abdullah, the constitutional monarch, will appoint a premier who he thinks can command a majority
Trump insists he struck Iran on his own terms
- “We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X.
- Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway”
WASHINGTON, United States: President Donald Trump and his team scrambled Tuesday to reclaim the narrative on why he decided to attack Iran, after his top diplomat suggested the US struck only after learning of an imminent Israeli strike.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio alarmed Democrats — who say only Congress can declare war — as well as many of Trump’s MAGA supporters on Monday when he said: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters.
Administration officials quickly backpedalled, insisting Trump authorized the strikes because Tehran was not seriously negotiating an accord on limiting its nuclear ambitions, and the United States needed to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities.
“No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Tuesday on X.
At an Oval Office meeting later with Germany’s chancellor, Trump went further, saying that “Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they (Iran) were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen.”
“So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
- Had to happen? -
Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway.”
“The president made a decision. The decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide... behind this ability to conduct an attack.”
Critics seized on the muddied messaging to accuse Trump of precipitating the country into a war without a clear rationale, without informing Congress — and without a clear idea of how it might end.
They noted that just two weeks ago, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump again in Washington to take a hard line, in their seventh meeting since Trump’s return to power last year.
Some Republican allies rallied behind the president, with Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, insisting that “No one pushes or drags Donald Trump anywhere.”
“He acts in the vital national security interest of the United States,” Cotton told the “Fox & Friends” morning show.
But as crucial US midterm elections approach that could see Republicans lose their congressional majority, Trump risks shedding supporters who had welcomed his pledge to end foreign military interventions.
“We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top former Trump ally and a major figure in the populist and isolationist hard right, posted on X.
