Kuala Lumpur, Mar 1: Former Malaysian home minister Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as the Prime Minister on Sunday.
Mr Muhyiddin was appointed following the abrupt resignation of 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who had been in office since the general elections in 2018.
Mr Muhyiddin, wearing traditional Malay clothes, pledged to serve the country and the people well before Malaysia’s King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at the national palace, Xinhua reported.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Muhyiddin’s political allies.
Muhyiddin, 72, who becomes the eight PM of the Southeast Asian nation, had served as deputy prime minister under former prime minister Najib Razak between 2009 and 2015. He later co-founded Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) with Mahathir and served as its president, joining the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to win the general election in 2018.
He also served as home minister in Mahathir’s cabinet.
On the same day of Mahathir’s abrupt resignation on February 24, Muhyiddin announced as party president that PPBM is pulling out of the PH coalition, costing its majority in the lower house of parliament.
Mr Muhyiddin later won the support from major opposition including the Barisan Nasional led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and became a leading candidate for the top post.
On Saturday, Malaysia’s national palace had said that King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah agreed with the appointment of Muhyiddin as the country’s new PM.
However, Mr Mahathir, who again became PH’s candidate for prime minister earlier Saturday, unveiled a list of some 115 members of parliament (MPs) whom he said support him to be prime minister, hence that he command the majority in the 222-seat lower house of the parliament.
In a press conference on Sunday, Mahathir called for an early parliament sitting so that the MPs could demonstrate if Muhyiddin command the majority.
In the Southeast Asian nation, the king appoints the country’s Prime Minister, who has to show his support of most MPs.
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