Exco members disagreeing with their gov't usually resign - observers

In most instances, it is hard to convince the Opposition bench to support a government motion.

However, on Monday, the Malacca State Legislative Council saw two executive council (exco) members walk out just before a motion tabled by Chief Minister Adly Zahari went to a vote.

The motion was defeated 13 to 12.

Regardless of the reason behind the exco members’ move, Universiti Utara Malaysia political science professor Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said it was a violation of the “collective responsibility” convention enshrined in a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy like Malaysia.

The convention requires executive members of the government to support all government decisions or be obligated to resign if they do not.

“Usually, the exco member will have to resign, but he or she can still remain as state assemblyperson.

“The government should act collectively. They (elected members) can’t act against the government when they hold a position as a cabinet minister or an exco.

“(Usually), a show-cause letter will be issued and if they (the exco members) fail to give a convincing justification, they can be sacked,” Azizuddin said when contacted.

Similarly, University of Tasmania political scientist James Chin (above) said executive council members who disagree with their own government should either step down by convention or express their views in a more private manner.

“(There are) many cases of cabinet ministers resigning, in the West, if they don’t agree with their cabinet decision.

“Normally, if exco members really disagree with the chief minister (on a motion), the item will be deferred to another meeting. It is very rare in Malaysia for a decision to go through, and later for an exco member (to go) against it,” the Asia Institute director told Malaysiakini.

A ship on the rocks

In the case of Malacca, the motion that engendered the shocking move from Ginie Lim (PKR-Machap Jaya) and Muhammad Jailani Khamis (PKR-Rembia) did not initially appear to be a controversial one - it was to install Malacca PKR chief Halim Bachik as a senator - but it hit a sore spot in PKR.

Halim is aligned to party president Anwar Ibrahim while the two lawmakers are known to be allies of Anwar’s estranged deputy Azmin Ali.

The duo has since explained they wanted to protest Halim’s leadership but did not want to vote against Adly’s motion, thus their decision to abstain by sitting out the vote altogether.

They also denied that their actions were due to factional politics or an attempt to undermine the state government.

Despite parliamentary convention obligating that they resign and the bad optics that the fiasco cost the state government, Chin noted that the Malacca government’s weak grip on power complicated matters.

With 15 seats, Pakatan Harapan has a fragile two-seat edge over the Opposition in the 28-seat Malacca state assembly.

Even one defection from Harapan would lead to a hung state assembly.

“You can take action but that will make matters worse.

“In these sorts of cases, it is better to resolve the unhappiness (and) move forward rather than sanction the assemblypersons. You have to remember now that it is (now) in the open and any sanction will affect the assemblyperson’s supporters in the party,” Chin observed.

Furthermore, Harapan is missing one exco member in the form of G Saminathan (above, DAP-Gadek) - who is in detention pending trial over his alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

A day after Adly’s motion was defeated, state Opposition leader Idris Haron fuelled talk of a no-confidence vote against the chief minister and signalled that all 13 Umno representatives in the house were prepared to back it.

Last month, speculation surfaced that two exco members were working with Umno to form a backdoor government. All Harapan lawmakers later came out to refute the speculation and voice their support for Adly.

Given the shaky situation, Azizuddin called for any dissent to be quelled immediately.

“If the issue prolongs and drags into other (government) decisions, the government can collapse,” he cautioned.

Anwar then stepped in to chair a “reconciliation meeting” with Halim, Ginie Lim and Jailani, after which he declared that the issue is now resolved.

The party president added that Halim’s senatorial nomination has now been put on hold pending discussions within PKR.

Ilham Centre’s Mohd Azlan Zainal, however, viewed the abstention as just another manifestation of friction within the fractious PKR rather than dissent against Adly (above) or the state government.

Better pre-council consensus

“It is more an internal issue and aimed at protesting an individual but it was dragged into the open, causing the senatorial appointment to fail. I don’t think the disagreement of the two PKR assemblypersons reflects the state government’s stance.

“I don’t think this affects the stability of the state government because all state assemblypersons continue to support the present chief minister,” he opined.

Moving forward, the think tank’s CEO suggested that the exco members from all four Harapan component parties embark on more thorough discussions before state legislative assembly sessions begin.

This, Azlan said, would enable for more consensus and prevent a repeat of public discord.

“Every representative also represents a party, and thus they are tied to any consensus or understanding achieved within their respective parties.

“What happened in the context of Malacca is the failure of ‘pre-council’ meetings among the component parties,” Azlan said. - Mkini