Bangkok, July 8, (dpa/GNA) – Malaysia’s Health Minstry reported a record daily pandemic death toll on Thursday as Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin struggled to retain power in the wake of a key ally withdrawing support.
The ministry said Thursday’s 135 coronavirus-linked fatalities were “the highest since the pandemic hit the country.” Almost 9,000 new cases, the second highest daily figure, were reported by the ministry.
As the grim virus numbers were being announced, frantic political negotiations were taking place after the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) pulled out of Muhyiddin’s government and demanded he step down.
With 38 seats, the UMNO was the biggest party in the ruling coalition, which took power with a slim majority 16 months ago after Muhyiddin and a handful of allies defected from the previous government led by Mahathir Mohamad.
According to Attorney General Idris Harun, the UMNO’s U-turn does not mean Muhyiddin has lost control as there are not “any clear facts to show that the prime minister no longer holds the confidence of the majority of members of parliament.”
However parliament has not sat this year as Malaysia has been under emergency rule since January. The UMNO recently joined calls by opposition parties and King Abdullah for lawmakers to reconvene.
Muhyiddin backed down and said parliament could sit at the end of July before on Wednesday naming Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakab of the UMNO as his deputy and making Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, also of the UMNO, a senior minister.
However the concessions did not stop the UMNO from withdrawing support in the early hours of Thursday, when it issued a scathing statement about Muhyiddin’s handling of the pandemic.
GNA