KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was sworn in on Saturday, bringing back the rule of the country’s longest-governing political party, but he faces a tall task in uniting a polarised society and reviving a slumping economy amid a worsening pandemic.

Ismail was the deputy prime minister under the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned on Monday after less than 18 months in office as infighting in his coalition cost him majority support.

Ismail obtained the backing of 114 lawmakers for a slender majority that brought Muhyiddin’s alliance back to power. It also returned the premiership to Ismail’s United Malays National Organisation, which had led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 but was ousted in 2018 elections amid a multibillion-dollar financial scandal.

Malaysia has a new PM, with essentially the old politics and players. It’s back to the past: UMNO is now in PM seat, returning to power to though elite bargains despite being booted out for corruption in 2018,” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asian expert with Malaysia’s Nottingham University.

Ismail took the oath of office before King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah during a brief ceremony at the national palace witnessed by leaders in the prime minister’s alliance, including Muhyiddin.

Ismail, 61, faces a distrustful public, amid popular anger over the previous government’s inconsistent policies and perceived failure in tackling the pandemic. Malaysia has one of the world’s highest infection rates and deaths per capita, despite a seven-month state of emergency and a lockdown since June.

Daily new infections have more than doubled since June to hit a record 23,564 on Friday, bringing the country’s total to over 1.5 million cases. Deaths have surged to above 13,000. The central bank has cut its estimated growth forecast this year to between 3pc and 4pc due to the lockdown.

He is the lucky PM at an unlucky time without strong legitimacy and standing domestically and internationally. He comes in as the least popular PM at the worst time in history for Malaysia,” Welsh said.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has urged supporters to accept the outcome after losing out to Ismail. He said his three-party alliance, which ousted UMNO in 2018 polls, will work harder to win back the people’s mandate in the next general election.

Anwar was due to succeed then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad before their reformist alliance collapsed in February 2020, sparked by the withdrawal of Muhyiddins party. Muhyiddin then formed a new government with UMNO and several other parties.

Ismail was named defense minister when Muhyiddin took power in March 2020, and became the government's public face through daily briefings on security issues related to the pandemic.

He was promoted to deputy prime minister in July as Muhyiddin sought to appease UMNO, which was unhappy at playing second fiddle to Muhyiddin’s smaller party. In the end, 15 UMNO lawmakers pulled support for Muhyiddin, causing his government to collapse.

Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, a political science professor at Malaysia’s University of Science, said Ismail’s key challenge is to bring about national unity in a highly polarized society.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2021