THE leaders of Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) component parties had convinced Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin not to resign in a meeting held on Wednesday, political sources said.

The sources, who were privy to the meeting, said PN leaders also wanted the prime minister to face a confidence motion in Parliament in September as planned, and not anytime sooner.

It was previously reported that there were plans for the confidence vote to be held at a special sitting of Parliament to be called on August 18.

Sources told The Malaysian Insight the PN leaders did not want Muhyiddin to fall into Umno’s and the opposition’s trap as it would see the fall of the PN government.

They believed that if Muhyiddin stepped down, the situation would be no different from what it was when the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government collapsed in 2019 following Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as the prime minister.

Muhyiddin and the PN came to power following that development.

“PN leaders are convinced that we are acting in accordance with the federal constitution, especially with Article 40, and in compliance with the law,” one source said.

Article 40 of the constitution specifies that the king’s authority is limited to certain matters, and does not include dictating when Parliament should convene, and that His Majesty must act on the advice of the cabinet.

The source added that when Muhyiddin first declared that he would face a vote of confidence when Parliament sits next month, he was not confident that he would win.

“He was just following the democratic and legal procedures. If he fails, he will have to resign,” the source said.

“Muhyiddin has to pass the motion of confidence. His success rate is 50%. Moreover, the constitution stipulates that the king cannot remove the prime minister,” the source said.

He also did not dismiss the possibility of Muhyiddin leading a minority government with the loss of his majority support.

Another source said that Muhyiddin might just call for the dissolution of Parliament if he fails the confidence motion in September, and to get the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s assent to call for a general election.

“The Agong, however, may not agree to the dissolution of Parliament. In this case, Muhyiddin will have the chance to remain as prime minister as no political party currently has a clear majority,” he said.

“PH has 88 members of Parliament, while Umno has 38 MPs, Pejuang has four members, and Warisan has eight members. Perikatan seems to have solid numbers,” the source said.

“Muhyiddin can still form a minority government and continue to govern,” the second source added.

The source also said the PN would push to hold a general election once at least 80% of the population has been vaccinated.

This, said the source, was the way to put a stop to the political conflict.

According to the sources, PN still has time to negotiate and to shore up support ahead of the Parliament sitting on September 6.  PN might be eyeing opposition MPs for this, they said.

Muhyiddin’s position has become shaky following Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s recent announcement that he has at least 15 MPs who have withdrawn support for the prime minister.

This means the prime minister has lost his slim majority in the House.

Muhyiddin, however, had said he continued to enjoy majority support and agreed to face a confidence vote in September.

Things were ramped up in recent days with speculation that the Agong has advised Muhyiddin to either step down or face a confidence motion sooner. – August 13, 2021.