ONCE sacked as the deputy prime minister from the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, Muhyiddin Yassin has now risen to power as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.

The 72-year-old leader of the Perikatan Nasional pact will be sworn in as prime minister this morning at 10.30am.

Muhyiddin, who served as deputy prime minister in Najib Razak’s administration, was sacked from the post in 2015 and subsequently Umno, for questioning Najib’s involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

In 2016, the former Johor menteri besar joined forces with Dr Mahathir Mohamad to set up Bersatu, which became a component party of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

Dr Mahathir chaired the party, with Muhyiddin becoming president.

Muhyiddin is also one of the few leaders who have been a minister in both the BN and PH governments, having most recently served as home minister until PH’s collapse earlier this week.

Chronology of events:

Friday, February 21

The first PH Presidential Council meeting of the year was held at night to discuss a timeline for the transition of power from Dr Mahathir to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Discussions wr tense over three prevailing views: one, that Dr Mahathir set a handover date now; two, he resigns after the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in November, and three, he stays as prime minister for a full term.

Saturday, February 22

In a midnight press conference after the meeting, Dr Mahathir, the PH chairman, said no transition date was set and reiterated he would handover to Anwar after Apec.

He said the council had left it to him and it was “the trust given to me by the party”.

In the morning, details of the meeting were leaked to various media on the split in opinions and heated discussions.

It was also learnt that PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali had continued to hold secret meetings with his faction members and others right after the presidential council meeting.

These meetings continued throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday, February 23

Several political meetings took place around Kuala Lumpur.

Besides Azmin’s faction, Bersatu, Umno, PAS, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Warisan were also holding meetings.

It is now known that Dr Mahathir had attended the Bersatu meeting on this date, where his party pressured him to take it out of PH, and form an alliance with Umno and PAS.

Dr Mahathir resisted, saying Bersatu should not force him to break his pact with PH and Anwar.

Dr Mahathir left the meeting without speaking to the press and the party did not issue a statement either.

A “pro-Dr Mahathir” dinner, organised by Azmin, was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, attended by all MPs except those from PH, GPS and Warisan.

Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa hinted at the dinner that the PH government was as good as dead, saying they were waiting for Dr Mahathir to give the signal.

However, Dr Mahathir did not attend the dinner.

Monday, February 24

The morning started with Anwar, PKR adviser Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu holding a meeting with Dr Mahathir at his residence.

Just before 2pm, Dr Mahathir announced his resignation as prime minister. In a second statement an hour later, he announced his resignation as Bersatu chairman.

In between, Muhyiddin announced Bersatu’s exit from PH.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah accepted Dr Mahathir’s resignation and appointed him interim prime minister.

Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali announced that the PH cabinet was dissolved with the resignation of the prime minister.

Meanwhile, PKR and DAP convened emergency meetings.

PKR announced the sacking of Azmin and ally vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin from the party. Nine other MPs quit PKR, creating Azmin’s group of 11 MPs who at first, declared themselves to be non-aligned.

With Bersatu’s exit and Azmin’s group of 11 out, PH was no longer the government of the day, lacking the numbers in the Dewan Rakyat.

DAP’s Lim Guan Eng explained in a press conference in the afternoon that Dr Mahathir told PH leaders earlier that morning at the latter’s house, that he resigned as prime minister and as Bersatu chairman because he rejected Bersatu’s move’s to form a new coalition with Umno and PAS.

Lim said DAP would continue backing Dr Mahathir to be prime minister.

Tuesday, February 25

Bersatu announced that its supreme council has decided to reject Dr Mahathir’s resignation as party chairman.

Dr Mahathir started work as interim prime minister.

From 2.30pm until the evening, the Agong began personal interviews with the first batch of 90 MPs out of 222, to determine whether they could nominate a new prime minister or send the country to the polls.

Expectations were high that the MPs’ answers to the Agong would shape up to be a race between Dr Mahathir and Anwar, as at the time, Umno, PAS, Bersatu and Azmin’s group of 11, openly stated their support for Dr Mahathir.

In a surprise move, Umno and PAS announced that evening that their MPs did not back Dr Mahathir, telling the Agong they wanted snap elections instead.

Wednesday, February 26

The Agong continued to interview the remaining MPs.

In a televised address at 4.45pm, Dr Mahathir as interim prime minister announced he wanted to form a non-partisan government, which put the country first without party politicking.

He also said he resigned as prime minister because he could not accept Umno as part of a ruling government that replaced PH.

PH makes an about turn, dropping support for Dr Mahathir and naming Anwar as its preferred candidate on the basis that Dr Mahathir’s idea of a non-partisan government would give him unchecked power.

Thursday, February 27

Bersatu, which had previously rejected Dr Mahathir’s resignation as party chairman, decided to give him a role in the party.

In Putrajaya, Dr Mahathir launched the economic stimulus package aimed to boost the nation’s fortunes after the Covid-19 outbreak.

At a press conference after the event, he said he was still Bersatu chairman and revealed he had talked to Muhyiddin about the possibility of the latter being nominated for prime minister.

He said he and Muhyiddin had different positions about accepting Umno.

Dr Mahathir said he would accept only those who have quit Umno, while Muhyiddin was willing to accept the party en bloc.

Dr Mahathir also said that a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat would be held on March 2, to determine which PM candidate commands the House’s support, because the Agong could not find “a distinct majority” for a candidate based on his interviews with MPs.

Friday, February 28

The Conference of Rulers held a meeting on the political crisis.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof rejected Dr Mahathir’s request for a special Dewan Rakyat sitting because the request did not contain complete motions as required under Standing Orders.

The Agong issued a statement approving the Speaker’s decision and stating that the palace was not satisfied after finding no candidate with a clear majority.

He said party leaders would be invited to the palace to nominate their candidate.

The race to a majority began. Azmin’s faction of 11 ex-PKR MPs joined Bersatu.

Muhyiddin was endorsed by Bersatu; which now included Azmin’s group, and PBRS, while Anwar remained PH’s candidate, declaring he had the numbers.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas abruptly quit in the evening, saying his appointment was no longer valid as Dr Mahathir, who appointed him to the post, had resigned as prime minister.

Saturday, February 29

Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman released a video at 8.02am, saying he will not work with corrupt people, adding he did not back Muhyiddin as a candidate.

Dr Mahathir denied ever supporting Muhyiddin as a candidate, reiterating that he will not work with corrupt leaders from Umno.

PH issued a statement minutes later to endorse Dr Mahathir as the coalition’s PM candidate.

It emerged that Dr Mahathir and PH leaders held an emergency meeting the previous evening when it became clear that Muhyiddin was in the race to be PM.

The Agong held an audience with the leaders of Bersatu, Umno, PAS, GPS and PBRS.

Kingmaker GPS’s stand was still unclear, as the Sarawak coalition said it would only announce its position later in the day.

Warisan announced its support for Dr Mahathir. PH still believed it had the numbers to back this up.

Just before 5pm, Istana Negara decrees Muhyiddin is Malaysia’s eighth prime minister. He is to take his oath of office at 10.30am today.

It emerged that wildcard GPS had decided to support Muhyiddin.

A shocked PH said it will appeal the Agong’s decision with the support of signed statutory declarations.

Mukhriz Mahathir suggested Bersatu was lying in its recent press statements, which said all its MPs supported Muhyiddin for prime minister. He said six MPs were actually in support of Dr Mahathir.

PH leaders and Dr Mahathir spent the evening at the latter’s office at Yayasan Al-Bukhary in Kuala Lumpur, collecting statutory declarations from supporting MPs for the 94-year-old leader to be prime minister.

Dr Mahathir issued a statement at 10.40pm, naming six Bersatu MPs, including himself, who did not support Muhyiddin to be PM.

He also said he had 114 statutory declarations from MPs supporting him as prime minister. – March 1, 2020.