The Malaysian Insight

PRIME Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s last-ditch offer to the opposition smacks of hypocrisy and is too little too late, said analysts.

The reforms he had proposed in exchange for support when he faces an upcoming confidence vote were not even original and could have been implemented earlier upon taking federal power, they added.

Some of the reforms suggested had already been raised in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto, said Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi.

“These offers are only coming after he has lost confidence. It’s very insincere,” the Malay ethnic studies lecturer told The Malaysian Insight.

Muhyiddin, in a live telecast on Friday evening, appealed for bipartisan support when he faces a vote of confidence in Parliament next month.

In exchange, Muhyiddin said his administration would introduce bills to limit the term of the prime minister and to stop lawmakers from party-hopping.

He also promised equal funding to all Members of Parliament (MPs) for their constituency needs, including those in opposition seats, and to raise the stature of the parliamentary opposition leader to be equal in status and remuneration with that of a senior minister.

Muhyiddin was immediately slammed on social media and by opposition MPs for offering bribes openly on live television.

Other reforms would be to ensure balance in the composition of parliamentary select committees between the ruling party and opposition MPs to ensure check and balance, and to have half of all such committees chaired by members of the opposition.

He also promised amendments to the relevant laws needed in order to facilitate Undi18, or the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.

He also pledged to increase the government’s Covid-19 spending by RM45 billion to RM110 billion, to suppress the pandemic which has remained out of control and to increase monetary aid for the people and businesses, if he remained as prime minister.

Awang Azman noted that before PH was toppled, it tabled the amendment for limiting the term of the prime minister in the last Parliament sitting in 2019.

“Muhyiddin discontinued this agenda when he took over.

“It’s ridiculous for him to make this offer now. He should just call for an earlier Parliament sitting to decide the confidence vote,” he said.

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Dr Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said the reforms proposed could be carried out by the new prime minister, and that Muhyiddin was not indispensable. 

“All these could be presented at the very first sitting when Parliament reconvenes, there are hopes that these reforms can be in place and the next months would be about implementing them,” he said, adding that Muhyiddin’s offer was “too little too late”.

On Muhyiddin’s promise that bills would only be tabled if the majority of MPs agree to his proposals, Tunku Mohar said the idea of a confidence-and-supply agreement (CSA) had been initially mooted prior to the tabling of Budget 2021 in Parliament when he still had a slim majority.

“But he ignored the opposition then. And now, suddenly, when he no longer commands the majority, he’s offering the reforms that the opposition had been asking for some time. 

“Surely his motive was to entice the opposition to allow him to stay in power.

“His reform proposals are just an afterthought as he has never shown any interest in any of them. He even ridiculed some of them, such as Undi18 and anti-hopping laws. This is indeed a desperate attempt for him to cling on power,” said Tunku Mohar.

Awang Azman said the offer to enact anti-hopping laws did not even make sense when several MPs in Muhyiddin’s party, Bersatu, are defectors.

Although Bersatu has 31 MPs, only six (including Muhyiddin) won the last general election on the party’s ticket. Another 10 are defectors, led by Mohamed Azmin Ali, while the remaining 15 hopped over from Umno.

Awang Azman said Muhyiddin’s offer to give equal allocations to all MPs, limit the term of the prime minister to two and implement Undi18, are equally insincere.

“These are things that he should have done when he became prime minister last year and not when he has lost the majority support of MPs.

“When Muhyiddin wanted power last year, he rejected DAP and PKR by breaking up Pakatan Harapan. Now that he has lost the majority, he wants to get them to support him again,” said Awang Azman.

“So although these offers look good on paper, they are only being given as part of his scheme-of-things strategy.”

Awang Azman was referring to the term “scheme of things” that Muhyiddin purportedly used in a leaked audio clip of a meeting prior to the Sheraton Move last year. The phrase refers to a strategy to obtain support from Umno MPs for Muhyiddin to become prime minster. 

To date, Muhyiddin has not denied nor confirmed the audio recording.

Muhyiddin is believed to have only 100 MPs supporting him after 15 Umno MPs withdrew their support for him in the last two weeks. The Dewan Rakyat has 222 seats but there are currently 220 MPs, following the deaths of two lawmakers last year.

His made his live telecast to appeal for opposition support despite calls to resign after clearly losing his majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said he would not resign as no other MP had the majority support to replace him as prime minister, and his resignation would create difficulties for the country, which needed stability to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lawyers and opposition MPs quickly pointed out that it was wrong for him to say this, as the federal constitution only required him, having lost majority support, to step down. – August 15, 2021.