On Sunday, Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the main opposition coalition announced a breakthrough in talks for a confidence-and-supply agreement (CSA). A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be inked when the Parliament reopens on Monday.
The PM, a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) vice-president, can rely on the support of only 114 members of the 222-seat Parliament, where two seats currently remain vacant.
The Straits Times mentioned official sources revealing that the deal would see 89 Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs “abstain or support supply Bills and motions whose failure will be understood as a loss of confidence” for the government. “For example, if we are genuinely consulted on next year’s budget, then there will be support. Otherwise, it will just be abstention,” an anonymous top PH leader said.
Furthermore, a joint statement released on Sunday by a ministerial committee and the PH representatives read: “With this understanding, focus and priority will be given by both sides to a new political landscape through transformation initiatives and reforms to governance, especially empowering Parliament.”
On Friday, PM Ismail announced that the government would offer several reforms. These include “enacting anti-party hopping laws, lowering the voting age to 18, limiting the term of a premier to a decade, and ensuring bills will be negotiated and jointly agreed on before being tabled in Parliament.”
CSAs are generally agreed upon following elections in which no single party or coalition has won enough seats to form a majority government. Therefore, the party with most lawmakers will need backing from other independent or opposition parties to form a minority government and survive confidence votes or pass expenditure Bills, commonly referred to as supply Bills.
The certainty of this accord has been in question since it was first introduced at a meeting between the PH representatives and PM Ismail on August 25, days after he was sworn in with a slim majority in the Parliament.
PM Ismail came to power after former PM Muhyiddin Yassin met the monarch, King Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin, to offer his resignation after losing the parliamentary majority last month. The political stand-off reached an impasse after anti-Muhyiddin lawmakers rejected his final proposal for concessions and polls by July 2022 in exchange for support in the September 7 vote of no confidence.
Muhyiddin’s resignation ended his tumultuous 17 months in office after a challenging few weeks of mounting opposition pressure to leave office. A significant blow was served to the Muhyiddin cabinet when 11 UMNO members, the biggest party supporting the ruling PN coalition, withdrew their support.
Malaysian Government and Opposition Announce Breakthrough in Confidence Agreement
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the country’s main opposition coalition on Sunday announced a breakthrough in talks on a confidence-and-supply agreement (CSA).
September 13, 2021
A Parliament session on July 26, 2021. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob can count on the support of just 114 members of the 222-seat Parliament. SOURCE: REUTERS