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Malaysian king calls for unity as Mahathir criticises government for one-day parliament session
- Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah addressed recent political turmoil and weighed in on tensions in the South China Sea during the one-day session
- Former leader Mahathir Mohamad was among 107 lawmakers on the opposition benches, the first time since he became an MP in 1964
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Malaysia’s one-day parliament session began and ended on Monday with the nation’s king delivering a speech in which he urged lawmakers not to reignite political instability two months after a crisis that saw the previous government toppled after just 21 months of rule.
“Show maturity in politics … We believe that it is only through the unity of the people and the government that we can create a stable, peaceful and prosperous Malaysia,” said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, calling on lawmakers to adhere to “a clean political culture”.
He said he had asked former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad not to resign in February “but he was firm in his decision”. The king, who has constitutional discretion to appoint a lawmaker to the role of prime minister if he believes they hold the confidence of the majority of the house, replaced Mahathir with Muyiddin Yassin on February 29.
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At a press conference held soon afterwards, Mahathir questioned why parliament had only been allowed to sit for two hours, pointing to the legislative assemblies of individual Malaysian states which have held longer sessions.
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“We cannot accept the reasoning that because of the pandemic we can only meet for two hours … This will spell the end of democracy, as we cannot speak as representatives of the people,” he said.
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