By Prof. Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani

Since Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin taking oath on 1 March 2020 as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia, we have seen a new type of coalition politics existed in Malaysia. It is not like a 'New Politics' as promoted by Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in less than two years of its administration. It is more a loose coalition constructed to respond on the collapse of PH government itself due to infighting and resistant from many sections of society particularly the majority of Malay community who did not support the PH government since the beginning. Although PH previously had simple majority of seats in the parliament, in term of popular votes in the 14th General election in 2018, PH managed to get only 48.31 percent of votes out of 11,913,585 electorates who voted in the general election. The reality is that PH government did not have a popular vote, unlike when Pakatan Rakyat who got almost 51 percent popular votes in the 13th General Election in 2013. My argument is that PH had difficulty to govern the country because they had not had majority supports from the people, similar to when Barisan Nasional (BN) government suffered prior to defeat in the 14th General Election. This gives an indication that popular votes or winning majority votes matter in Malaysia.

When talking about the achievement of PN government within 100 days, it is difficult to find big achievement in the three crises faced by PN government namely political, economic and health crises. However, the PN government is actually dealt with these crises quite well. This is also due to the success of Muhyiddin as Prime Minister in political maneuvering, prompt and brave in making and executing his decisions and win and heart of Malaysians. Muhyiddin knows that he was appointed as Prime Minister in the difficult situation. He brought his party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) leaving PH and forming a coalition with PPBM political rivals; United Malays National Organization (Umno) and Islamic Party (PAS), with Gabungan Party Sarawak (GPS) and several parties from East Malaysia and People Justice Party (PKR) splinter group. Many criticized the forming of PN government as illegitimate or a back door government. However, according to the Federal Constitution, clearly PN is legal. No one can dispute under the first-past-the-post system implementing in Malaysia that PN is still a legitimate government even though the majority of members of parliament (MPs) supported the government are small. It is argued than PN has only 116 seats in the parliament. Whether this PN government is stable or not, only time will tell. It can be more stable than PH government until the next general election if all PN MPs are decided to support Muhyiddin's leadership and maintain a stable PN government for the common good. Similarly, this applies to all states, previously under PH, but now under PN such as in Perak, Johor, Melaka and the latest Kedah.

I think that the first success of PN government under Muhyiddin is in dealing with the issue of COVID-19 pandemic. Since declaring the Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March 2020, the number of infection was reduced to single digit at seven infections on 8 June 2020. The war against COVID-19 is not won yet, but the policy imposed through MCO, even though it brings hardship to the people, is effective to reduce the infections. I believe that the credit of this should be given to Muhyiddin who listens to health experts in making the prompt decision to impose the MCO unlike what happened in the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil when we saw the spike of infections and deaths after the leadership refused to listen to health experts and were late in making decisions. It is good to see that Malaysia is in recovery stage to bring back stability in economy particularly in affected sectors and industries.

Not only Malaysia, but all countries are desperate to bring normality in the economy. Malaysians clearly suffered. It is projected that the number of unemployment will be increased to 4 percent. Our tourism industry was almost collapsed. Malaysia is concerned with food security because of our dependency on the import of food and essential goods such as rice from Vietnam and Thailand. Global oil price was dropped to the lowest at US$11.26 per-barrel. We worry that Malaysia is already in recession. PN government managed to take quick decision to announce a stimulus package of RM260 billion to assist all affected by the MCO in Malaysia. Besides, the government also proposed several extended package and short time recovery plan to overcome the difficulty in our economy. Many economists believe that it is not easy to recover back the economy, but the efforts taking by government through the quick policy decisions will help to stabilize the Malaysian economy. World Bank expects Malaysia to recover by end of this year and will see growth in 2021.

One last thing needed to be highlighted is about Muhyiddin's leadership. Muhyiddin's characteristic as leader is different compared to other leaders such as previous Prime Ministers of Malaysia. He has only had similar religious background with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He is not saying much but he is obviously a good listener. He admitted that he listened feedback from people on social media about everything particularly on COVID-19 and economy. His political maneuver is excellent to ensure he continues heading the government and his party. Without doubt, he has huge challenges to ensure Malaysia is back to its glory. Once our political and economic stabilities are secured, more we can see of Muhyiddin projecting his legacy through policy agenda for the country. This perhaps raises a doubt about whether the shared prosperity vision 2030 started by the PH government will be continued or suspended under the PN government.

Therefore, in conclusion, the successful of PN government is depending on the successful of Muhyiddin leading the country. In 100 days, PN government and Muhyiddin have relatively managed to stabilize the political, economic and health crises. What is clear is that people will show their either positive or negative sentiments towards Muhyiddin and the PN government. If this government is performance to the liking of the people, definitely Muhyiddin and PN government can continue in power at least until the next general election or perhaps beyond that. However, if they fail, PH has a good chance to reclaim the power if they also can resolve their internal problems and produce a better alternative policy to the PN government. As of now, people will give their trust to Muhyiddin and PN government to rule Malaysia effectively for the common good.

(Prof. Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani is Professor at the School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Email:  [email protected].)