PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pix) paved the way for the current administration to have an “easier” time with some of the policies he implemented, say political analysts.
Universiti Malaya political analyst Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said Muhyiddin was forced to make a lot of unpopular decisions to help the nation fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The move to allow people to withdraw money from the EPF had a huge impact on the public, allowing them to survive during the lockdown.
“The emergency proclamation may have been unpopular but it was necessary to protect the nation from the spread of the Covid virus,“ he said.
He pointed out a lot of nations underwent the lockdown, for example in England it lasted nearly a year.
Awang Azman said the only problem we faced was the lack of money to help everyone.
“The government was only able to help a limited group of people,” he said, adding allowing people to make EPF withdrawals was a big help to those it could not provide financial assistance.
He said Muhyiddin had set down policies and a majority of them are being followed by the present government.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has not had to make any major policy changes as the most unpopular changes for the benefit of the nation had been done by Muhyiddin,“ he said.
Awang Azman said the decisions taken by Muhyiddin which were supported by Umno also led to his downfall.
Prof Azmi Hassan, Senior Fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, said Muhyiddin was forced to make a lot of unpopular decisions which has benefited the present Umno-led government.
He said for example the Movement Control Order (MCO) was very unpopular but was necessary to protect the nation.
He pointed out there is no need for an MCO now as the vaccination rate in the country is very high.
“Muhyiddin made decisions to protect the public and the economy which has benefited the present government,” Azmi said.
He said Muhyiddin was forced to declare an emergency due to the pandemic.