Malaysia warms to Muhyiddin and his cold coronavirus cash

$60bn stimulus measures help turn #NotMyPM hashtag into #MyPM8

20200408 Muhyiddin

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin speaks to the media on March 11, amid the coronavirus crisis. © Reuters

P PREM KUMAR, Nikkei staff writer

KUALA LUMPUR -- The term "cash is king" contributed to the downfall of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Now, after slightly over a month on the job, new leader Muhyiddin Yassin appears to be winning over a skeptical public with huge sums of money.

Muhyiddin could not have picked a worse time to become the country's eighth prime minister. When he took power on March 1, after an internal political coup forced Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to resign, the nation was already facing a broad crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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