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Malaysia's PM candidate Ismail Sabri Yaakob arrives at palace as King meets MPs to verify backing of his leadership

2021-08-19 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

KUALA LUMPUR - Prime minister candidate Ismail Sabri Yaakob arrived at the national palace on Thursday (Aug 19) at around 1pm, as Malaysia's King is set to meet with 114 Members of Parliament who signed statutory declarations to support Datuk Seri Ismail as the country's next leader to verify their stand.

MPs from Umno and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) have also arrived at the palace in Kuala Lumpur, as well as Barisan Nasional lawmakers who arrived earlier in the morning.

Confirming that 114 MPs had been invited to the palace to affirm their choice of Mr Ismail as PM, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan told reporters: "The purpose of the meeting is to make sure that we signed the (statutory declarations) voluntarily and that we were not under pressure."

Mr Ismail was deputy premier in the Muhyiddin Yassin administration which resigned on Monday.

A total of 17 lawmakers from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), an alliance of state-based parties running the Sarawak government, together with independent Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang, had their audience with the King virtually, GPS parliamentary whip Fadillah Yusof told reporters in Kuching, Sarawak. They were among the first group of MPs to have their sessions at around 10am.

The MPs met Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah one by one to confirm the contents of their statutory declarations, and that it was signed willingly, Mr Fadillah was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini news website.

However, he did not reveal who the coalition is backing, saying that this would be up to the King to reveal.

Earlier, Chief Secretary to the government Mohd Zuki Ali and Attorney-General Idrus Harun were seen arriving at the palace.

Sultan Abdullah is meeting the MPs in five groups from 10am to 5pm, according to a schedule seen by The Straits Times.

Meanwhile, the opposition said it has not received an invite for an audience with the King.

The audiences with the King come a day after Wednesday's deadline for MPs to state who they choose to lead the country.

All parties who were in Perikatan Nasional have backed Mr Ismail, except veteran Umno MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who was a rival candidate for the premiership until Umno decided to go with its vice-president.

The 114 votes obtained by Mr Ismail means that rival Anwar Ibrahim, who leads the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition and is Parti Keadilan Rakyat president, has failed to obtain enough support to become the next prime minister.

The King decreed on Wednesday that the MP chosen to succeed caretaker PM Muhyiddin Yassin would still need to pass a confidence vote in Parliament to affirm his legitimacy, while the Conference of Rulers is also expected to hold a special meeting on Friday to discuss the matter.

The first group of Barisan Nasional ministers arriving at the Istana on Aug 19, 2021. PHOTO: BARISAN NASIONAL/FACEBOOK

In February last year, Sultan Abdullah picked Tan Sri Muhyiddin, after a week-long political impasse following then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's shock resignation.

The decision was disputed by Tun Dr Mahathir who had himself tried to form a unity government, after refusing to go along with plans by Bersatu to leave PH and work with Umno.

The Muhyiddin government was plagued by accusations that it was a "backdoor government".

Mr Ismail Sabri Yaakob (left) needs to pass a confidence vote in Parliament to succeed caretaker PM Muhyiddin Yassin. PHOTO: BERNAMA

Following the loss of his majority with the withdrawal of 15 Umno MPs from Perikatan Nasional earlier this month, Mr Muhyiddin promised to push for a motion of confidence in the next parliamentary session and offered a raft of reforms to the opposition last week in a bid to secure enough votes.

But Mr Muhyiddin was forced to resign on Monday after the opposition rejected his reform deal to gain bipartisan support.