Muhyiddin has a majority of two

PARLIAMENT | The seating arrangement for the Dewan Rakyat sitting today showed that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin commanded majority support of the House.

The seating plan, produced by the Parliament staff, indicated that there are 114 MPs aligned to the government.

However, one MP - Masir Kujat (PSB-Sri Aman) - has clarified that he was wrongly assigned a seat on the government bench.

This meant that Muhyiddin (Bersatu-Pagoh) commanded a wafer-thin majority of two. 

Muhyiddin will go down in history as a PM who was appointed with the slimmest of majorities after Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Bersatu-Langkawi) in May 2018 (10-seat majority).

The list of government MPs, sorted by alphabetically by party, are in the following table.

With that, the question of whether Muhyiddin commanded the majority support of the House was no longer in dispute, for now.

The real test will come in July when the Dewan Rakyat is set to reconvene for 25 days, where government bills will be debated.

A highlight for July is the motion of no-confidence to be brought by Mahathir against Muhyiddin. 

It should be noted that while both are from the same party, Mahathir was sitting on the opposition bench during the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.

Although the likelihood of an opposition motion being tabled was next to nought, Muhyiddin will face a challenge in ensuring all 113 government MPs sit through every vote.

Failing to win a vote on any bill would signal that Muhyiddin no longer commands the majority support.

Muhyiddin would have to rely on his lieutenant Azmin Ali (Bersatu-Gombak) to ensure maximum attendance as government bench whip. 

Azmin Ali

According to the seating plan, the opposition bench will comprise of 107 MPs - Upko (1), Bersatu (5), Warisan (9), Amanah (11), PKR (39) and DAP (42).

Sitting in between both benches was Baru Bian (Independent-Selangau).

Baru was among the MPs who wavered during the "Sheraton Move" in late February, initially moving away from Pakatan Harapan and then agreeing with the coalition to back Mahathir for the premiership. 

As an independent, he is not bound by either whip and his inclinations are uncertain.

So far, Baru has shown an interest in Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), a Kuching-based party in opposition to the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak.

Masir, another MP who wavered during the "Sheraton Move", said he sat with the government bench although his party's preference was to be with the opposition.

On Feb 29, on the eve of Muhyiddin's swearing-in as prime minister, Masir had issued a statement via video to voice his support for the new prime minister.

A day later, his party PSB ordered him to retract his support for Muhyiddin and back Mahathir for prime minister instead. - Mkini