COMMENT | Barely 13 months after Malaysia’s eighth prime minister was sworn in, the nation is buzzing again over who will be the next person to move into Seri Perdana.

It is a popular belief that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin knows his government is untenable and his hold on power is slipping by the day, principally because (as he had earlier conceded) “[...] this government was not elected by the people (but we still care for you)”.

It is a fact that the majority of Malaysians do not recognise this unelected Perikatan Nasional government and consider it illegitimate. The prime minister is not blind; he knows this. And that is why he is keen to call for elections as soon as possible.

Any wonder then why Muhyiddin has not had an easy ride ever since he became PM on March 1, 2020, coming in via the back door.

It wasn’t the Covid-19 pandemic or the economic meltdown that bogged him down but the endless, messy and pathetic politicking. Add in the friendly and unfriendly shots (not the vaccine kind) being aimed directly at him from all four corners all throughout the past 13 months. Wasn’t that distracting enough?

I doubt Muhyiddin was able to function effectively as a prime minister this past year. How is that possible when you cannot even trust your own cabinet of very strange bedfellows in your hastily cobbled government?

That has been proven to be the PM’s worst nightmare with ...