Malaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin swears loyalty to monarchy after police probe

Muhyiddin Yassin has questioned the palace’s decision to invite Anwar Ibrahim to be Malaysia’s prime minister instead of him in 2022

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Then Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin speaks at a virtual meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:33pm, 21 Aug 2024

Malaysia’s ex-prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday declared his loyalty to the monarchy after police questioned him over comments about the previous king’s appointment of Anwar Ibrahim to lead the country following the split 2022 general election.

Muhyiddin, who was Malaysia’s leader between 2020 and 2021, had said he mustered the support of 115 out of 222 lawmakers after the election and should have been named prime minister.

Speaking during a by-election campaign last week, he said he “was not invited to the palace to be sworn in” by the then-king “for whatever reason”.

His Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition only won 74 seats but Muhyiddin argued he was able to cobble together support from individual lawmakers from other parties and that he had attained a parliamentary majority to return to office.

Following his police questioning, Muhyiddin said that he had given to the police proof of the statutory declarations from lawmakers who backed him to be prime minister along with a letter from the king’s office saying it received a statement from him regarding the matter.

“As an ordinary citizen, I take shelter under the majesty and glory of the Malay monarchs, and my loyalty to the institution of the constitutional monarch should not be questioned,” he said.