ON February 29, 2020, the king appointed Muhyiddin Yasin as the eighth prime minister.

At that point, it was uncertain whether Muhyiddin’s coalition Perikatan Nasional had the majority to form the government.

On the same day, the other contender for the post, Dr Mahathir Mohamed issued a statement with the list of 113 lawmakers backing him.

When Muhyiddin was sworn in on March 1, 2020, Pakatan Harapan maintained it had the votes of 112 MPs, whose names it revealed.

The newly appointed prime minister came into power with neither an electoral nor parliamentary mandate.

Thus, Muhyiddin’s appointment was immediately met with calls for a vote of confidence in the very next parliamentary sitting.

In response, the newly appointed prime minister postponed the start of the parliamentary session from March 9 to May 18 that year.

Fast forward to 2022. Muhyiddin is now demanding that Anwar prove he has the majority in parliament, something the former prime minister himself did not bother to do when he took office.

Instead of asking Anwar for proof of support, Muhyiddin should name the 115 MPs whose votes he continues to claim he has.

But unlike Muhyiddin, Anwar has announced in his first press conference as the PM that the first order of business for his government when parliament convenes would be to allow a confidence motion to prove that he has the numbers. – November 25, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.