Covid-19, deadlock trap Malaysia

A crisis of political legitimacy is hanging over Malaysia’s government just when it needs to make tough decisions to tackle a relentless surge in Covid-19 infections.
It’s hard to see the ongoing state of emergency ending in August as promised. Parliament was suspended in January in the name of fighting the pandemic, allowing Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to stay in power without a floor vote to test claims from legislators that he no longer commanded a majority. Back then, daily coronavirus infections were in the low 2000s. On Sunday, they hit a record 6,976.
The steady erosion of his government’s credibility was reflected in new measures. They simply aren’t up to the magnitude of the crisis given the spiraling daily caseload. Companies will be allowed to operate from 8 am until 8 pm; until now, they were allowed to open until 10 pm.
Most government officials and 40% of private sector employees will be
required to work from home. Police roadblocks and enforcement checks will be increased.
The recent steps look half-hearted. Despite
skyrocketing infections, Muhyiddin was subjected to vigorous, even open,
lobbying to avoid a full lockdown. His decision indicates he never had the strength to even get close. Historically, business has been loath to take on the state directly for fear of
retaliation. They weren’t afraid this time.
The Malaysian Iron and Steel Federation asked for assurances there would be “no total lockdown.” The Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia suggested
reducing the workforce on site. Muhyiddin sounds like a man pulled in different directions. “Life is important; I also don’t want the economy to collapse,” he told the state-owned broadcaster RTM. “If the economy collapses, I may have to spend half a trillion (ringgit; $121 million) now. … We have to balance. The government’s decision is based on the situation.”
His own situation was precarious going into the state of emergency. Muhyiddin came to power in March 2020 after a group of lawmakers left a coalition government led by Mahathir Mohamad. Subsequent procedural votes showed the prime minister with a majority of only a couple of MPs — at best. Last September, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim claimed he had the support of most parliamentarians, but was never given the chance to prove it. Meanwhile, the United Malays National Organization, which led every
government from independence in 1957 until 2018, isn’t happy with its junior role in Muhyiddin’s bloc and will campaign against him when polls are called.
The longer this barely disguised war within the government persists, the harder it is to take bold steps to combat Covid and, eventually, end economic hemorrhaging. Gross domestic product fell for a fourth consecutive quarter in the first three months of the year.

—Bloomberg