MP SPEAKS | Following the Umno supreme council's decision on Wednesday night to immediately retract support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the Muhyiddin government tottered yesterday, but did not fall.

Attorney-General Idrus Harun said that it was not clear that Muhyiddin had lost the confidence of a majority of MPs and that this must be determined by the MPs and not through statements.

A top Umno leader said Umno’s withdrawal of support was targeted at Muhyiddin and not at the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, although the Umno president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in his midnight media conference had listed seven major failings of the “Muhyiddin government” as the basis for the Umno supreme council's  decision.

It is therefore quite surprising that an Umno vice-president could say that Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was appointed as the deputy prime minister by Muhyiddin earlier on Wednesday, could be the acting prime minister if Muhyiddin resigns as prime minister, considering Ismail Sabri’s prominent role in the failed war against the Covid-19 pandemic – apart from the shocking disregard of the constitutional fact that the whole cabinet ceases to exist when the prime minister resigns.

The net result is paralysis of a kakistocratic government while the whole country is fighting a losing battle against the Covid-19 pandemic