ALL is not well for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who had recently entertained the idea of invoking emergency powers to put Malaysia’s democracy on hold.

This contrasts starkly with his position two months ago when he enjoyed an approval rating of 69% and at the same time, more than 90% of people were satisfied with how his government had handled the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis.

Democratic leaders would have killed for such ratings during these times, given that most governments are struggling with the twin peaks of pandemic and economic turmoil. For your information, as of September 28, 57% of Britons believed that their prime minister, Boris Johnson, has performed badly and some would be surprised that the latest findings still had Donald Trump sitting on a 42.6% approval rating while his administration has generally failed to handle the pandemic since the outbreak.

So why did a prime minister with such positive ratings two months ago try to resort to emergency measures to stay in power?

When Muhyiddin first took over the post, most remain doubtful of his ability to govern, and his ascension is partly due to fortuitous circumstances. He is perhaps the only senior leader that is acceptable to both Umno and PAS. There is also a dearth of prime minister material within the coalition given that both Zahid and Najib are charged with corruption while PAS is only viewed as a junior partner in this coalition.

To put it bluntly, Muhyiddin is the lowest common denominator of prime minister for the three Malay parties as long as their main interest is secured – that is, to govern and deny Anwar and Pakatan Harapan the right to rule.

Muhyiddin’s finest hour, thus far, came when the whole nation was in lockdown, and this was when the ratings were truly reflective of his popularity. Truth be told, this probably had little to do with how the prime minister was objectively performing and governing, but more toward how people yearn for leadership in times of uncertainty.

It is no surprise that mild anxiety, fear or paranoia engulfed us during the height of the first movement-control order (MCO) when so little was known about the virus and it might have compelled us to rally around the government, especially when our mobility was severely curbed.

Being a government critic, I also fell into that category and wanted Muhyiddin to do well at that time. The phrase “rallying round the flag” is usually bandied about by Americans to call for its people to unite behind their leaders in times of emergency. The same can be said of most of us who were “rallying around Muhyiddin” at that time.

There has been research shown that there might be an increase in short-term popular support for a country’s leader and his/her government during periods of crisis.

For example, the unpopular French President Emmanuel Macron has his approval ratings improved during the Covid-19 crisis, while this also applies to Boris Johnson’s government momentarily, especially when he himself was struck down by the virus.

As Muhyiddin’s government was still basking in his popularity – not knowing such support was merely temporary – mishaps and incompetence appeared to increasingly define his government as soon as the MCO was relaxed.

The disappearing act of Health Minister Adham Baba, the Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad’s last-minute decision to postpone public university’s orientation and Education Minister Radzi Jidin’s indecisiveness on school reopening are all symptomatic of this government’s incapability of handling the second wave of Covid-19.

It is as if this government has no other idea to effectively combat the virus aside from enforcing a lockdown.

The fact that Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali was not charged, let alone found guilty, when he had explicitly flouted quarantine had also dented Muhyiddin’s leadership. Muhyiddin has promised there will be no double standard, and yet his failure to sack or punish Khairuddin tells us otherwise.

The failure to punish Khairuddin also indicates that Muhyiddin has lost one of his most powerful armouries at his disposal – the power to dismiss cabinet ministers.

During normal times, this power renders the prime minister to be first among equals, and yet we are living at a time where the prime minister is fearful that a punishment would lead to a rebellious PAS and Khairuddin, further threatening his already wafer-thin majority.

This prime minister is indeed beholden to their support and this explains his bloated cabinet and excessive political patronage.

Anwar’s gambit might not have the desired effect he wanted, but it nevertheless exposes deep schism within this fumbling government. Umno cynically exploited Anwar’s desperation to increase its bargaining power with Muhyiddin. Although a ceasefire has been announced by Umno, the feeling is that the prime minister’s position is more precarious than ever.

The news of an impending emergency measures had certainly shocked the nation. It also proves how low the prime minister has fallen from his heydays of being the stellar-rated leader during a pandemic.

The fact that the leaks from Putrajaya telling the media of this potential emergency measures, which is supposedly to suspend “political activities”, has also revealed to us that the emergency powers are to be used not to save Malaysians from Covid-19, but only to save the prime minister’s job.

The Muhyiddin government is running out of options and time as the government has a supply bill to be passed. If Muhyiddin has no confidence of it being passed in the Parliament, the only option for him to continue to stay in power is to further humiliate Parliament by suspending it altogether.

One wonders what the approval ratings are of the prime minister right now, especially after he has been denied by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong his request for an emergency rule. – October 26, 2020.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.