(Bloomberg) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is under pressure from his party to call off a confidence and supply agreement with the opposition, a move that could allow the government to dissolve parliament earlier than planned.

This was after opposition lawmakers rejected a bill that would have enabled the government to renew for another five years its powers to detain suspects without trial for up to 28 days. The bill was defeated by a majority of two votes, with 50 MPs absent, according to the Parliament Speaker on Wednesday.

The defeat was “humiliating” and violated the so-called Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability inked between the government and opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan last year, according to leaders of ruling party the United Malays National Organisation. 

“The spirit and purpose of the MoU was clear, for a stable and harmonious administration and to support the PM as he manages the country’s recovery,” said Multimedia and Communications Minister Annuar Musa, an UMNO leader. “It’s clear that Pakatan Harapan has stabbed us in the back.”

At stake is Malaysia’s next general election, which is expected to happen this year owing to pressure from UMNO. Ismail on Saturday said he would dissolve parliament -- a precursor to a nationwide vote -- once he was confident of his party’s victory. Still, the pact with the opposition prevents him from making the move before July 31 this year.

READ: Malaysia PM Says He’ll Dissolve Parliament When Confident of Win

“To me, Pakatan Harapan, particularly DAP, must accept the fact that the PM is no longer tied to this MoU,” Annuar wrote on Facebook.

The opposition have maintained that their rejection of the bill did not violate their pact with the government. The MoU states that the opposition would support or abstain on bills that served as de facto confident votes, and Wednesday’s bill did not fall under that category.

“UMNO-BN must immediately exit the shackles of this weak cooperation,” UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wrote on Facebook Thursday. “All of this only strengthens my belief that UMNO must rise up and return as a strong, big and respected political power.” 

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