Malaysia will be unstable until elections take place

Subject

Malaysia's government crisis.

Significance

King Abdullah on March 1 swore in Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM) President Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister, believing Muhyiddin now commands a parliamentary majority. This followed a week of political turmoil that began when the PPBM’s Mahathir Mohamad resigned as premier. Mahathir’s move came after the PPBM and a breakaway faction of the People’s Justice Party (PKR) left the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which had come to power nationally in 2018. Muhyiddin leads a new Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, which has wrested power in two states as well as nationally following the PH’s fragmentation.

Impacts

• The risk of widespread protests will grow while parliament’s next sitting is delayed.
• If the PN government remains in place, at least in the medium term, its links to past corruption could impact Malaysia’s credit ratings.
• The PN will halt transparency initiatives put in place by the PH since 2018 but probably not reverse them entirely.