{"id":40769,"date":"2021-10-11T09:36:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T13:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/?p=40769"},"modified":"2021-10-11T13:24:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T17:24:42","slug":"new-prime-minister-familiar-challenges-in-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/new-prime-minister-familiar-challenges-in-malaysia\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia: New Prime Minister, Familiar Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 21 August, Ismail Sabri Yaakob was inaugurated<\/a> as Malaysia\u2019s ninth prime minister, replacing Muhyiddin Yassin, who had resigned<\/a> just days earlier having lost his parliamentary majority amid rising public discontent over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ismail was appointed by King Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, having secured majority support from 114 of 222 lawmakers in parliament, restoring to power the Perikatan Nasional coalition that had been led by Muhyiddin.<\/p>\n

Ismail\u2019s ascent made him the first premier to come from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) since the party was ousted from power after the 2018 election under Najib Razak, whose lengthy stint in office was tainted by the 1MDB financial scandal. UMNO, which had ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, was defeated<\/a> in those polls by a reformist alliance led by veteran Mahathir Mohamad. Mahathir\u2019s coalition collapsed<\/a> within two years after losing support.<\/p>\n

All of that thrust Muhyiddin, of the Bersatu party, into the premiership. He was appointed<\/a> in the same way as the latest incumbent, Ismail, after cobbling together a coalition with the UMNO last March, just as COVID-19 was taking-off. The pandemic came to dominate his administration, with the economy contracting<\/a> by 5.6% in 2020 amid repeat lockdowns. Political divides worsened, and infighting led him to suffer the same fate as Mahathir. Ismail now inherits these same problems.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ismail: Muhyiddin 2.0?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The new government was met with initial skepticism from the opposition Pakatan Harapan bloc led by Mahathir\u2019s one-time prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Anwar Ibrahim, president of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). Ismail faced accusations that he had revived the resigned Muhyiddin alliance, in which he served as deputy prime minister up until August, albeit with the UMNO now in a more dominant role over Bersatu. His cabinet contains<\/a> few new faces, with Zafrul Abdul Aziz retained as finance minister, and familiar duo Hishammuddin Hussein and Saifuddin Abdullah assigned to head the defence and foreign ministries.<\/p>\n

In a televised address after taking office, however, Ismail indicated he would do things differently, vowing<\/a> to \u201cstem the grab for political power\u201d and end the \u201cpolitical crisis\u201d that had \u201ccaused unrest\u201d in the country. While he has defended his cabinet picks as being dictated by a need for stability and experience, Ismail has promised<\/a> \u2018\u2018a new approach that is more open\u2019\u2019 to regain public trust. And at least for now, Muhyiddin has lent support to his former deputy and kept Bersatu in the coalition.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Malaysia\u2019s fourth prime minister since 2018, must fix the COVID-hit economy and heal political divisions if he is to avoid the fate of predecessors Mahathir and Muhyiddin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":847,"featured_media":40770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[1,29],"tags":[1242,1598],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Empty_Singapore-Malaysia_Causeway_2.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":false,"audio_player":false,"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n