PETALING JAYA: “It was never in my mind that one day I would become prime minister,” says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic).
The former premier said it was fated that he ascended to the country’s top post March 1, 2020 after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned.
The series of events in the aftermath of the Sheraton Move that led to Bersatu’s exit from Pakatan Nasional and Dr Mahathir’s resignation in February 2020 also marked the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan government after just 22 months in power and the rise of the Muhyiddin-led Perikatan Nasional administration.
“It was something that I didn’t expect to happen,” the Parti Bersatu Pribumi Malaysia president said at the launch of his pictorial biography book Muhyiddin Yassin: Leading a Nation in Unprecedented Crisis.
The book authored by former Media Prima Bhd chairman Datuk Abdul Muttalib Razak details the former prime minister’s premiership during an unprecedented time in the face of a twin crisis of Covid-19 and economic downturn due to the pandemic.
He said drastic measures had to be taken and there was no precedent to be used as a reference on how the crisis could be handled.
He said that the government had also taken an unprecedented decision by crafting economic stimulus packages which amounted to more than RM500bil.
He said this has benefited more than 20 million people.
He said the vaccination was also not an easy process, adding that over 90% of the population had now been inoculated against the virus.
“Alhamdulilah we are now nearly back to full normalcy,” he said.
He said the problem had yet to be resolved as a the economy had yet to recover, adding that it may take a long time to get back on track.
“While we have overcome that one state of unprecedented crisis, we are still in crisis today,” he said.
Muhyiddin said he still wanted to contribute to the nation in his role as the National Recovery Council chairman.
Muhyiddin resigned in Aug 2020 just after 17 months in power.