Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Associated Press)-Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yacob expressed a conciliatory tone in his first national speech on August 22, saying that he would support the opposition to deal with the loss of control The pandemic has also revitalized the sluggish economy.
One day after taking the oath of office, Ismail said that since the 2018 election, the political struggles that have led to the change of government have been detrimental to the country and annoyed the public.
“Let us move on. Let us stop the fight for political power,” he said, urging all lawmakers to find common ground and work together to help the country recover.
The 61-year-old new prime minister stated that he will invite the opposition to join the National Rehabilitation Council and the COVID-19 Committee.
“Political stability must be achieved quickly through unity, which includes cross-party cooperation,” he said.
Many people think that Ismail’s appointment is a return to the status quo. He is the deputy prime minister under the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. He resigned after less than 18 months in power because his coalition internal fighting cost him most of his support.
Ismail has been trying to distinguish himself from the Muhyiddin government, which has been accused of failing to contain the pandemic, even though it has entered a state of emergency and lockdown for seven months since June.
Ismail won the support of 114 legislators with a small majority-this also brought Muhyiddin’s coalition back to power and returned the prime ministerial position to Ismail’s Malay National Coalition. The party has led Malaysia since its independence from the UK in 1957, but was removed in the 2018 election due to a multi-billion dollar financial scandal.
Ismail said the government will purchase an additional 6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, which will arrive next month to strengthen vaccination efforts. He did not provide further details. He said that he believes that once the country achieves herd immunity, the virus will no longer pose a serious threat. More than half of the Malaysian adult population has been fully vaccinated.
Since June, the number of new infections per day has more than doubled, reaching a record 23,564 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to more than 1.5 million. The death toll has soared to more than 13,000. Due to the blockade, the central bank lowered its economic growth forecast for this year to 3% to 4%.
Ismail said he understands that the public is suffering because thousands of people have lost their livelihoods. He said his government will introduce new policies to increase purchasing power and support the private sector.
“Let us work together as a big Malaysian family to restore Malaysia to the level of prosperity we were used to. I pledge to cooperate with the people,” he said.
Muhyiddin pulled his party from the reformist coalition that won the 2018 elections and formed a new government with Umno and several other parties in March 2020.
But Umno is not happy to play a minor role in Muhyiddin’s small party. In the end, 15 Umno MPs withdrew their support for Muhyiddin, leading to the collapse of his government.
