Malaysia’s Parliament sits for first time under PM Anwar

This article is more than 12 months old

Ram Anand, Malaysia Correspondent

Dec 19, 2022 10:57 am

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government on Monday elected a new parliamentary Speaker from its ranks, underlining his administration’s strength in numbers in Parliament for the first time.

Datuk Johari Abdul, a former MP from Datuk Seri Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), garnered 147 votes among 222 MPs to become the new Speaker. However, this is just short of a two-thirds majority that Mr Anwar claims to command in Parliament.

This is likely reflective of the level of support that Mr Anwar has among Malaysia’s lawmakers, ahead of a confidence vote that is scheduled to take place later on Monday as part of a two-day special sitting for Malaysia’s Parliament.

The Premier will look to cement his claim that he has the support of two-thirds of Malaysia’s lawmakers through the confidence vote.

Commanding a two-thirds supermajority will allow Mr Anwar’s government to make sweeping changes to laws, including amending the Constitution and changing electoral rules.

The Parliament sitting will also see the government seek RM56 billion (S$17 billion) in additional expenditure funds, as the country’s 2023 federal budget was not passed by Parliament before it was dissolved in October to pave the way for elections.