Muhyiddin Yassin, who is set to become Malaysia’s next prime minister, is a low-profile political insider and former stalwart of the establishment Muslim party that led the country for decades.
As Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim engaged in a power struggle following the collapse of their two-year-old coalition, the unassuming 72-year-old emerged as an unexpected compromise candidate.
He managed to outmanoeuvre them both by forming an alliance of parties dominated by the country’s ethnic Malay Muslim majority. Even a last-minute change of tack by Mahathir and Anwar to join forces to stop him failed, and he garnered enough backing from MPs. He will be sworn in Sunday.
Muhyiddin is considered a Malay nationalist sparking controversy in a multi-ethnic country where race and religion are deeply sensitive.
While this status may help him win some votes, he was not elected — rather, the king appointed him following the past week’s political upheaval — and could struggle to win legitimacy.
Muhyiddin was interior minister until the ruling coalition fell apart amid vicious infighting, an important position that oversees the powerful police among other things. From southern Johor state, in 1971 he joined the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the lynchpin of a coalition that ruled Malaysia for six decades until its defeat two years ago. He was chief minister of Johor, a Malay heartland, and later served in senior posts in central government including as sports minister and education minister before being named deputy prime minister in 2009 when Najib Razak was premier. But he later fell out with Najib after criticising him over the handling of the multi-billion dollar scandal linked to state fund 1MDB, and was sacked in 2015. Muhyiddin later joined the Bersatu party, a political vehicle set up by Mahathir, and helped to oust Najib and UMNO from power. The latest twist in the topsy-turvy world of Malaysian politics has seen him join hands with UMNO once again to win power — and the man who sacked him remains a lawmaker, despite being on trial.
He was diagnosed with early-stage pancreatic cancer in 2018, and has undergone an operation. Still some worry that his controversial comments about race could exacerbate already tense relations between the country’s different ethnic and religious groups.
About 60 per cent of Malaysia’s population are Muslim but the country is also home to substantial ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities, who do not typically follow Islam. The previous administration was accused of failing to protect the privileges of the Malays and of being too influenced by ethnic Chinese politicians. — AFP
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