There is a fourth reason why Muhyiddin is not the Parliamentary Opposition Leader — his dismal record in fighting corruption when he was first “backdoor” Prime Minister

I have given three reasons why Muhyiddin Yassin is not the Parliamentary Opposition Leader although he has not given up hope to become prime Minister again.

This is because he does not want to be confronted especially in Parliament as Opposition Leader on three issues, namely:

  • As the first backdoor Prime Minister in Malaysia who dared not test his legitimacy with a vote of confidence in Parliament.
  • His illegitimate, illegal and unconstitutional suspension of Parliament.
  • His abysmal failure to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic causing Malaysia to have the longest Covid-19 wave in the world.
  • There is a fourth reason — his dismal record in fighting corruption when he was the first “backdoor” Prime Minister.

    The first Pakatan Harapan government proved to be a major failure although it may have acquitted itself well in the history books if it had served full five years and not toppled in 22 months in February 2020.

    It gave the best Chinese New Year present in January 2020 when it achieved the best Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019, ranked No. 51 with a score of 53 — a single-year improvement of six points for the TI CPI score and 10 placing in the TI CPI ranking: the best performance in 25 years.

    If the Pakatan Harapan government had served full five years till 2023, with Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister in the second half of the five-year term, Malaysia would end up as among the 40 top nations in the world in public integrity, and if the Pakatan Harapan government had ruled until the end of the decade, Malaysia would have been among the top 30 countries in the world in the fight against corruption.

    The Pakatan Harapan government would have been the best antidote to the atmosphere of doom and gloom which descended on Malaysia in 2018.

    But the ignominious Sheraton Move political conspiracy intervened and toppled the Pakatan Harapan Government in February 2020, and Malaysia continued in the decline in the TI CPIs.

    In the TI CPI 2020, Malaysia fell in score from 53 points to 51 points, which resulted in six- point fall in ranking from No. 51 to 57.

    The TI CPI 2021 was worse. It was a devastating TI CPI, where Malaysia dropped a further three points in score to 48 out of 100 marks and 5 points in rank in to 62nd place.

    The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is dreading the release of the TI CPI, where Malaysia is likely to scrape the bottom of the barrel and have the worst TI CPI ranking and score in country’s 28-year history.

    The Anwar unity government cannot do anything to influence the outcome of the TI CPI 2022 which should be released worldwide shortly, but the TI CPI 2023 will be a testament of its anti-corruption commitment to clean up the country of corruption and kleptocracy, provided it can last its first full year in office.

    Time is already running for the TI CPI 2023 and the Anwar unity government must perform on the anti-corruption front, as the last thing Malaysians want is a relapse of the TI CPI with Muhyiddin returning to the Prime Minister’s office.

    Lim Kit Siang DAP Veteran