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Anwar's 2027 budget clears first vote after deal with former rival Muhyiddin

Bersatu and MUDA lawmakers signed a confidence and supply agreement hours before Malaysia's Lower House passed the budget by voice vote.

Asia Times Newsroom

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gives a speech at the opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur on May 27, 2023.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gives a speech at the opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur on May 27, 2023. Photo: PeaceSeekers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's Budget 2027 passed its first voting stage in Parliament on Thursday, hours after his government signed a support deal with 13 opposition MPs led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, The Straits Times and the South China Morning Post reported.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul declared the budget passed on a voice vote after Second Finance Minister Amir Hamzah Azizan closed the debate. "The ayes have it," he said, according to The Straits Times. No opposition MP called for a division. In October 2025 a bloc vote on the budget recorded 120 ayes, 67 nays and 35 absent, the paper said. The SCMP put the size of the budget at 459.8 billion ringgit.

Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof signed the confidence and supply agreement for the federal government with Muhyiddin, who is Bersatu president, 11 other Bersatu MPs and Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, the founder of MUDA. The Straits Times said the deal lifts the government's support to 147 of the 222 MPs, close to a two-thirds majority. The SCMP described the other 12 signatories as opposition and independent lawmakers.

In return, each of the lawmakers will receive annual constituency funding of between RM3 million and RM4 million, the same as government backbenchers, The Straits Times reported. "The government has agreed to provide constituency funding directly through us," Muhyiddin told reporters after the signing.

He said Bersatu MPs would support the budget and back reforms including a two-term limit for prime ministers and separating the roles of attorney-general and public prosecutor. He said the party would remain a check on the administration. MUDA will back the government on the same matters.

Muhyiddin governed Malaysia from 2020 to 2021. The SCMP noted he helped bring down Anwar's alliance six years ago. After leaving Pakatan Harapan in 2020, Bersatu formed Perikatan Nasional with PAS. The two parties have since fallen out, and the Registrar of Societies has deregistered the coalition, though a High Court stay order on October 22 has delayed its dissolution, The Straits Times said.

The vote comes as Anwar faces pressure inside his unity government. Barisan Nasional beat his Pakatan Harapan in state elections in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, and BN chief and Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi urged Anwar several times in September to call an early national election. The next general election must be held by February 2028.

Anwar's majority also rests on the 30 MPs from Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah. The budget allocates RM18.7 billion to Sabah and RM16.2 billion to Sarawak, which The Straits Times described as record sums. By convention, failing to pass a supply bill would force the prime minister to resign or seek a dissolution of Parliament.

The two coalitions meet again at the Melaka state election on November 14.

Sources: The Straits Times, Malaysia’s Anwar survives budget test after securing support from former rival Bersatu; South China Morning Post, Anwar’s ex-rival backs Malaysia’s budget. Will Muhyiddin become PM’s election partner?.

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