[Photo courtesy Malaysia Information Department/Handout via Reuters]
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin survived a crucial legislative test by a whisker Tuesday as parliament passed his government’s 2021 budget in the final stage of a multi-step process.
A margin of only three votes clinched passage of the spending plan – Muhyiddin’s first piece of legislation as PM that was seen as a vote of confidence in his unelected nine-month-old government.
At the same time, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim failed to demonstrate his claim that close to two-thirds of MPs were supporting his bid to become prime minister, after 111 lawmakers out of 220 voted in favor of the budget bill.