KUALA LUMPUR — The United Malays National Organisation (Umno) has withdrawn support for Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin effective immediately, party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Wednesday night (July 7).
He said the Umno Supreme Council agreed to the decision in an online meeting that went on for almost four hours.
“The Perikatan Nasional government led by Muhyiddin has failed. It failed to fulfil all the guidelines presented by the Supreme Council on March 11, 2020.
“That was the pre-agreement for Umno to continue its support towards Muhyiddin’s government.
“Therefore, the period given to lend our support to Muhyiddin as the prime minister is over and is withdrawn effective immediately,” Mr Zahid said during a press conference that aired live on Umno’s social media.
Umno has 38 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, while four seats are held by its other Barisan Nasional component parties; the Malaysian Chinese Association has two seats while the Malaysian Indian Congress and the United Sabah People's Party have one seat each.
Under Mr Muhyiddin’s administration, Umno lawmakers helm nine ministerial and eight deputy ministerial posts.
Mr Zahid’s decision to withdraw its support comes just hours after the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday announced the appointment of Umno vice president and Senior Minister (Defence) Ismail Sabri Yaakob as deputy prime minister and promotion of foreign affairs minister Hishammuddin Hussein to senior minister (security cluster) — Mr Ismail’s previous post.
Mr Zahid urged Mr Muhyiddin to take the honourable route and step down from office.
He added that Umno wants a new interim prime minister appointed until the Covid-19 crisis in Malaysia reaches a stable state and herd immunity is achieved through vaccination.
“The new prime minister’s tenure should only focus on helping the rakyat throughout the pandemic, overcoming Covid-19 through a more inclusive approach and ensuring the vaccination and immunisation process is sped up.
“After successfully achieving the level of group immunisation, the new PM must immediately advise the YDPA to hand over the mandate back to the people to hold GE15,” he said, referring to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Malaysia’s king.
Mr Zahid did not propose anyone to be interim prime minister.
However, he stressed that the Umno supreme council will not endorse opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim or the Pakatan Harapan coalition that includes the DAP, to be the interim government. AGENCIES
https://www.todayonline.com/world/umno-withdraws-support-malaysian-pm-muhyiddin
