Muhyiddin Yassin

Biography

Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947 in Muar, Johor), universally known as Muhyiddin Yassin, was the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia, serving from March 2020 until his resignation in August 2021. He is president of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) and has represented Pagoh in the Dewan Rakyat since 1995. He read economics and Malay studies at the University of Malaya, graduating in 1971, and began his career in the Johor state public service before moving into state-owned enterprise management. He first entered parliament in 1978 and held junior office as parliamentary secretary and deputy minister before becoming Menteri Besar of Johor in 1986, a post he held for nine years. Returning to federal politics in 1995, he served as Minister of Youth and Sports, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Agriculture, and International Trade and Industry. He won the UMNO deputy presidency in 2008 and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education by Najib Razak in 2009, ending the use of English for teaching science and mathematics in national schools. He was dropped from cabinet in July 2015 after criticising the government's handling of the 1MDB scandal — the first sitting UMNO deputy president to be excluded from the president's cabinet — and was expelled from the party in 2016. He co-founded BERSATU with Mahathir Mohamad that year and became Home Minister when Pakatan Harapan won in 2018. In February 2020 BERSATU withdrew from the coalition; after Mahathir's resignation Muhyiddin assembled the Perikatan Nasional government and was appointed prime minister on 1 March. His premiership was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic — successive movement control orders, the national vaccination programme and a 2021 state of emergency that suspended parliament. He resigned on 16 August 2021 after losing his parliamentary majority.

Constituencies (1)

Electoral track record

900 mentions across 29 months

News mentions