Malaysian PM gains political lifeline with 2021 budget approval

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin won parliamentary approval for his government’s 2021 budget on Thursday, avoiding a potential political crisis in the midst of other crises brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Parliament passed the budget by a voice vote, leaving it unclear exactly how many of the 222 lawmakers supported the government’s first budget since Muhyiddin emerged as the leader of a new coalition in March.

The government tabled the country’s largest-ever budget three weeks ago, in a bid to bring the economy out of its first recession in over a decade and to manage the health fallout from Covid-19, as