Malaysian King upholds Yassin's appointment, says 'qualified to be PM'

Malaysia's King on May 18 asserted the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister during political turmoil was proper and constitutional. This comes days after the country's parliament put off a vote on an opposition challenge to his leadership. As per the opposition, it wasn’t clear that Yassin had majority support from 222 members of parliament's lower house, Dewan Rakyat.

"Surely, every contest will have a conclusion. The country's political wrangling could not be allowed to fester without any end. Hence ... in line with provisions under the Federal Constitution, I found that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had the majority support of members of the Dewan Rakyat and was qualified to be appointed as the eighth prime minister," the king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said in his address broadcast live on national television.

Previously, the lower house speaker had approved a motion tabled by Yassin’s predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, seeking a no-confidence vote against Yassin. However, the vote was postponed indefinitely after the government shortened parliament's meeting in the wake of coronavirus, allowing only the royal address.

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'Yassin scared of no-confidence vote' 

Mahathir later slammed the shortened meet reportedly saying that he could not accept the excuse that they could only meet for two hours because of the pandemic. The two-time prime minister said Parliament could have remained sitting since strict health measures were observed, including temperature screening and social distancing. Mahathir said debates were also crucial as government aid to help the poor cope with the pandemic hasn't reached target groups. Malaysia, which has 6,894 cases of virus infection and 113 deaths from COVID-19, recently allowed most businesses to reopen but mass gatherings are still banned.

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