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Motivation Behind Malaysia's State of Emergency Questioned

Zsombor Peter

   KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government's surprise state of emergency,
   declared this week to help beat back a surging coronavirus outbreak,
   may be more of a bid by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to preserve his
   slipping grip on power, some analysts say.

   The country's constitutional monarch, Al-Sultan Abdullah, declared a
   nationwide state of emergency for the first time in over 50 years on
   Tuesday at Muhyiddin's request.

   Malaysia counted a record 3,309 new COVID-19 cases the same day, in the
   midst of its worst wave of infections since the pandemic began. The
   country of 32 million has logged more than 144,000 cases in all to
   date, over half of them since early December.

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