Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin resigned, and his government collapsed just after 17 months in office. Yassin’s rough period in office came to an end after allies withdrew support, and he became the shortest-serving premier in Malaysian history.

After submitting his resignation to the king, Yassin said that “I could have chosen the easy way out by putting aside my principles to continue as prime minister, but that is not my choice,” he said in a televised interview. The national palace confirmed the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who formally appoints the prime minister, had accepted Muhyiddin’s resignation.

Muhyiddin came to power in March last year without an election at the head of a scandal-plagued alliance following the collapse of a two-year-old government led by Mahathir Mohamad. But his government faced confusion from day one, and his majority in parliament was in doubt, and he faced a continuous challenge from opposition Chief Anwar Ibrahim.