Explainer: What Lies Ahead for Malaysia with its King Rejecting its PM’s State of Emergency Request?

TODAY ONLINE

26 October 2020

Malaysia could be headed towards another round of political turmoil with its king rejecting Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request to declare a state of emergency and Mr Muhyiddin facing calls to resign. The surprise move by Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah on Sunday (Oct 25) left Mr Muhyiddin, his close advisers and other government officials scrambling, with reports of them meeting late on Sunday night and also Monday morning to strategize the next step forward.

Deputy Head of Policy Studies Coordinator of Malaysia Programme, Ariel Tan from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) said that Malaysian citizens are now looking to the king to “serve as a check on the executive, any political adventurism and attempts to overreach and circumvent the parliament and the king’s discretionary powers”. “(The palace’s statement) sought to freeze the frame and keep politics in animated suspension as far as possible by expressing support for the continuation of the current government and stressing the importance of the budget to be tabled in November,” she said.

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IDSS / RSIS / Online

Last updated on 27/10/2020