On Monday, Malaysian’s Muhyiddin Yassin stepped down as Prime Minister after months of political turmoil culminated in the loss of his majority. However, his resignation is more likely to open another chapter of instability in the absence of any obvious successor.
His resignation marks the end of a tumultuous 17 months in office, the shortest stint of a Malaysian leader, but it hampers efforts to reboot a pandemic-stricken economy and curb a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Until a successor is found, the Southeast Asian nation’s king appointed Muhyiddin as the caretaker prime minister but did not set a timeline. King Al-Sultan Abdullah ruled out the elections because of the pandemic stating that he will appoint a prime minister by invoking his constitutional power.
Muhyiddin stated that he resigned along with his cabinet after losing majority support in parliament. As caretaker, he added, he will have no cabinet but he will perform executive functions and advise the king until a new prime minister is appointed. He stated, “I hope a new government can be formed immediately so that the administration of this country is not disrupted. The next two months is crucial, as we expect to achieve herd immunity in October.”
