Malaysian PM urged to quit
Malaysia's embattled leader was accused of treason and urged to quit yesterday after the king denounced his crisis-hit government for misleading parliament, a rare public rebuke from the revered monarch. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin leads a scandal-plagued coalition that seized power last year without an election, but his government is on the verge of collapse after allies withdrew support. Parliament convened this week after a months-long suspension under a coronavirus state of emergency, which critics said was a bid by Muhyiddin to cling on to power. On Monday, the law minister told the legislature the emergency would end on August 1 and that several regulations enacted under it were being cancelled. Yesterday, the royal palace confirmed the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, had not given his consent, which is required, and said that he expressed his "great disappointment". After the royal statement was released, the legislature erupted in uproar. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) -- the biggest party in Muhyiddin's coalition -- accused the premier of treason and urged him to resign.
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