Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin urges sweeping reforms and a five-year urban poverty plan

During the 2027 Budget debate, former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin pressed the government to implement its institutional reform agenda with greater breadth and transparency, insisting that laws be applied impartially across all ranks, races and political groups. He praised the government's commitment to follow the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Tabung Haji, a body created while he was in office, and called for future reviews of alleged financial leakages involving Felda and other institutions.

On the legal front, Muhyiddin stressed the importance of upholding the presumption of innocence for those linked to the Tabung Haji case and respecting judicial independence. He proposed a five-year National Urban Poverty Eradication Master Plan that would coordinate ministries to address housing, healthcare, employment, education, skills training and social assistance for the urban poor. Citing statistics, he highlighted a drop in urban absolute poverty to 3.7% in 2024, while relative poverty stays high at 16.7%, underscoring ongoing inequality and cost-of-living pressures in cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Baru.