10th July 2021 

Prime Minister Mahiaddin Yassin must resist the temptation to seek shelter in the ambiguity over how many MPs support him by resigning from his position as PM

It is evident that Prime Minister Mahiaddin Yassin has lost the support of the largest component of the ruling coalition, Umno.

Therefore he does not now command the confidence of a majority of MPs in the Lower House, the prime requisite of being Prime Minister.

Mahiaddin should not prolong the corrosive uncertainty surrounding his legitimacy as PM by dilly dallying over resigning.

A refusal to do so would accelerate Malaysia’s descent along the “road to failed statehood” which Bloomberg has predicted is our present trajectory.

Mahiaddin had asked for and obtained a declaration of emergency on January 12 to better manage the Covid-19 pandemic, a declaration that saw Parliament unnecessarily prorogued.

Neither the pandemic nor the economic impoverishment its multiple lockdowns caused has eased under the watch of the Prime Minister.

Therefore the emergency has not achieved the purpose for which it was declared and the stilling of Parliament has turned out to be a maneuver to deflect scrutiny of government conduct.

The mushrooming of white flags, an emblem of desperation felt by people struggling to put food on the table, is the confirmation that the Prime Minister has failed.

This picture of gloom is compounded by scenes being viralled on social media of hospitals deluged with patients, frontliners verging on burnout, and a healthcare system on the brink of collapse.

Our vaccination rollout process is tardy in comparison with our neighbours though it has been speeded up of late, but this haste has been too little too late.

To make matters worse, rising unemployment and plunging foreign direct investment have caused the whole economic outlook to be submerged in gloom.

While the country is sliding down the road to disaster, the Perikatan Nasional government shows it is out of sync with the people by engaging in manoeuvres to keep its hold on power.

It is as if their survival is more important than their concern for the sufferings of the people.

Now with infectivity rates and fatalities mounting, a moment of grave national crisis has descended on the nation.

I appeal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to intervene on a matter of grave necessity to urge the Prime Minister to do the honourable thing in the circumstances and resign.

A new and more stable government must take up the reins and arrest the country’s head-long plunge to catastrophe.

M. Kula Segaran

Member of Parliament for Ipoh Barat, Perak