Dewan Rakyat speaker hails Muhyiddin as 'overlooked reformist'
Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun has hailed Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin as an “overlooked reformist” for his achievements since being removed from the office of deputy prime minister in 2015.
Among others, he highlighted Muhyiddin’s political comeback as Bersatu president as part of a coalition that broke Umno’s 61-year hold on power, his reform agenda as home minister, and his efforts to steer the nation in the opening months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Muhyiddin Yassin, the eighth prime minister of Malaysia, is a renowned national figure and towering personality and a reformer, whose reformation efforts many...
Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun has hailed Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin as an “overlooked reformist” for his achievements since being removed from the office of deputy prime minister in 2015.
Among others, he highlighted Muhyiddin’s political comeback as Bersatu president as part of a coalition that broke Umno’s 61-year hold on power, his reform agenda as home minister, and his efforts to steer the nation in the opening months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Muhyiddin Yassin, the eighth prime minister of Malaysia, is a renowned national figure and towering personality and a reformer, whose reformation efforts many choose to overlook, for whatever reason they may have,” he said in a speech in Kuala Lumpur this evening.
Azhar was officiating the launch of the book “Muhyiddin Yassin: Leading a Nation in Unprecedented Crisis”, authored by former Media Prima chairperson Abd Mutalib Razak. The book is published by Yayasan Pendidikan Islam and Ayu Manja Training and Consultancy Sdn Bhd.
Muhyiddin was removed from office as deputy prime minister and later sacked from Umno over his open criticism against then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the 1MDB scandal.
He later founded Bersatu alongside former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and several others, which would join several other opposition parties in the Harapan coalition in facing the 14th general election.
Azhar described this comeback as a “modern tale of David and Goliath”.
Concerning Muhyiddin’s performance as home minister in the Harapan government, Azhar said among Muhyiddin’s first initiatives as minister was to set up a committee to look into laws that are deemed “unsuitable” such as the Sedition Act, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, and the Prevention of Crimes Act.
“I know because I sat in that committee together with (former) justice Mah Weng Kwai and other human rights activists as well as well-known academicians.
“The committee met many times, going through every and each detail of the laws and listening to the relevant stakeholders,” he said.
Azhar also said it was Muhyiddin who later pushed him to become the Election Commission (EC) chairperson, and when Muhyiddin became prime minister and invited him to be nominated as speaker, his first question in the meeting was to ask, “how’s the EC?”
“Such was concern about the reforms that I was undertaking in EC that he saw fit to ensure that SPR would be in a good position even if I left,” he said.
Turning his attention to the events of the Sheraton Move in 2020, which would lead to the collapse of the Harapan government and Muhyiddin’s rise to become prime minister at the head of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, Azhar said Muhyiddin, “like me and my EC chairmanship, had never asked for the job”.
This is because Muhyiddin took power during political uncertainty, as the world faced the Covid-19 pandemic while Malaysia was undergoing unprecedented political manoeuvres in the country’s history.
Yet, Muhyiddin’s first action was to take care of the people, even if his actions were unpopular.
“The streets were deserted, buildings empty, and the economy grinding to a halt. But the health and welfare of the rakyat came first. Malaysia’s success in countering Covid-19, the success that we are all benefitting from now, is a fruit whose seeds were sown by Muhyiddin and again, that was widely overlooked.
“Without the movement control orders and his drive for vaccinations, nobody would know where we would be today. Despite that, Tan Sri (Muhyiddin) is not one who would thump his chest and shout his own name,” he said.
Azhar also praised Muhyiddin for stepping down after Umno withdrew support for his premiership.
“Tan Sri could have easily prevented it by negotiating his passage,, but that he wouldn’t do. He honourably stepped down.
“Not many would have achieved what he achieved in this tumultuous time that he was the prime minister. A lesser man wouldn’t have done what he had done,” he said.
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