In Malaysia, the health crisis has been superimposed by a political crisis which is becoming more complex month after month. In March 2020, a parliamentary alliance game brought about a new Prime Minister without ...

Malaysia: Parliament meets for the first time in 2021 amid crises

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin at the first session of Parliament since the start of the year, in Kuala Lumpur, July 26, 2021. AP - Famer Roheni

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

In Malaysia, the health crisis has been superimposed by a political crisis which is becoming more complex month after month.

In March 2020, a parliamentary alliance game brought about a new Prime Minister without new elections taking place.

For more than a year now, the opposition and many citizens have longed for more transparency and new elections.

For the first time since December 2020, the deputies were able to meet on July 26, 2021.

Publicity

More than ever in recent days, political and health crises have become intertwined in Malaysia. On Sunday, despite the very strict containment in force for more than two months, a record number of new cases were announced. And this Monday, in hospitals, an unprecedented strike movement denounced the government's lack of recognition of contract doctors who represent nearly half of the country's doctors.

During this time in Parliament, the oppositions also demanded accounts for the management of the pandemic, and in particular for one of the most controversial measures: the

state of emergency

decided on last January and deemed necessary by the fragile government in place to fight the pandemic. More than six months later, governance by decree has not stopped the curve of cases from reaching unprecedented heights, and

some NGOs are

worried about a restriction on press freedom caused by this state of emergency. .

For the opposition, the Covid-19 thus served as

an excuse

for Muhyiddin Yassin, the Prime Minister, to remain in power, thus avoiding the confrontation of Parliament and a possible vote of no confidence.

This Monday, he therefore tried to defend his record, assuring: "

The government does not

stand

idly by watching the people suffer, (we) are acting to save lives."

An uncertain political future

This declaration comes in a climate of great weariness in Malaysia where

various scandals of ministers

exceeding the very strict rules of confinement have angered citizens.

Faced with criticism from the opposition and a few days before the end of the state of emergency declared at the beginning of the year, the head of government announced that it would not be renewed.

But if this declaration could allow a resumption of parliamentary life, the political future of the country seems uncertain: after many alliances and disunities, it is very difficult to know who could obtain a majority in Parliament, and the

health situation

makes the holding of new elections very risky.

However, a return of the people to the polls seems the only possible way out to date to get out of this totally unprecedented political crisis in the history of Malaysia, where the

Prime Minister

is chosen by the King in normal times after the legislative elections, which identifies then the leader of the parliamentary majority and appoints him as head of the Malaysian government.

Malaysia: Parliament meets for the first time in 2021 amid crises

Malaysia: Parliament meets for the first time in 2021 amid crises

An uncertain political future

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