PM Lee congratulates Malaysia’s new prime minister Muhyiddin

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Mr Muhyiddin Yassin on becoming Malaysia’s new prime minister in a phone call on Sunday (March 1).

Mr Muhyiddin was sworn in as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister before the Malaysian King, Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, at the Istana Negara on Sunday, ending a week of political turmoil that began with the resignation of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mr Lee said in a Facebook post that he first met Mr Muhyiddin in Kuala Lumpur in 1985. Mr Lee was then Minister of State for Trade and Industry while Mr Muhyiddin was Deputy Minister in the Malaysian Ministry of Trade and Industry.

“Since then, we have had many opportunities to work with Tan Sri Muhyiddin, both at the Federal level in his various Cabinet appointments, and when he was Menteri Besar of Johor,” Mr Lee said.

The prime minister is confident that Singapore’s relationship with Malaysia will grow under Mr Muhyiddin’s leadership and benefit the people of both countries.

“I invited Tan Sri Muhyiddin to visit Singapore soon, and look forward to meeting him again,” Mr Lee said. 

“We will have much to discuss, especially in this challenging global environment.”

Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement: "Both prime ministers reaffirmed the substantive and broad-based cooperation shared by Singapore and Malaysia, and looked forward to working together for continued mutual benefit."

A week of twists and turns in Malaysian politics began with Dr Mahathir’s resignation, as he broke his alliance with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and proposed a national unity government without party loyalties.

However, he agreed to stay on as interim prime minister until a successor is found.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim then launched his own bid to become prime minister while Mr Muhyiddin, the president of Dr Mahathir’s party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, built his alliance.

Dr Mahathir also put his name into the hat, with PH throwing their support behind him again.

On Saturday, Malaysia’s royal palace said that the King has picked Mr Muhyiddin as prime minister, who it said had gained a majority of the support from the 222-member parliament.

“After getting views from all political party leaders and all independent Members of Parliament (MPs), the King’s view is that Muhyiddin has commanded the majority support from the MPs,” a palace statement said. 

This was disputed by Dr Mahathir, who said that he had the support of 114 MPs, above the 112 needed to form a majority.

On Sunday, Dr Mahathir maintained that he had the support of the majority to become the prime minister but said that the Agong had refused to meet him.