Malaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin swears loyalty to monarchy after police probe

Speaking during a by-election campaign last week, he said he “was not invited to the palace to be sworn in” by the then-king “for whatever reason”.

His Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition only won 74 seats but Muhyiddin argued he was able to cobble together support from individual lawmakers from other parties and that he had attained a parliamentary majority to return to office.

Following his police questioning, Muhyiddin said that he had given to the police proof of the statutory declarations from lawmakers who backed him to be prime minister along with a letter from the king’s office saying it received a statement from him regarding the matter.

“As an ordinary citizen, I take shelter under the majesty and glory of the Malay monarchs, and my loyalty to the institution of the constitutional monarch should not be questioned,” he said.

His criticism of Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, the country’s then-king, caught the attention of the palace and has thrown into question PN’s image as the bastion of ethnic Malay supremacy and Islam, where respect for the king is paramount.

Speaking to This Week in Asia, political analyst Azmi Hassan said that Muhyiddin’s “unbecoming criticism” of the former king has created turmoil among Malay voters, PN’s most important support base.

“Not only does PN find it hard to convince non-Malay voters to vote for them, with this case, they will be losing their aura as the defenders of the Malay community and Islam as state religion,” Azmi said.

Then incumbent PN was defeated by Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Kelantan state election three days after Muhyiddin’s speech.

Describing Muhyiddin’s remarks as “manipulative and harmful”, the Crown Prince of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah accused the former leader