Zaid accuses Hadi of conflating 'majority' with 'integrity'

 

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has been accused of inferring that an Umno-Pakatan Harapan tie-up will not result in a government with integrity.

Referring to Hadi's Facebook post, where he suggested that enjoying majority support but lacking integrity does not benefit the country, former Umno law minister Zaid Ibrahim concluded that the PAS president was alluding to the viability of an Umno-Harapan tie-up.

"What I conclude (from Hadi's writing) is that if Umno and Harapan were to win big (together), it is meaningless because they do not have integrity," Zaid (above) wrote on his Facebook page today.

According to him, "majority" and "integrity" are two mutually exclusive issues that should not be conflated.

A legitimate government, Zaid said, would require the majority support of the nation's MPs because this was a constitutional requirement.

"The need for a majority is a constitutional requirement and if we respect the (Federal) Constitution, (Parliament) needs to be (convened to establish this)," he said.

Integrity, on the other hand, referred to a person's values, which includes sincerity, transparency, compliance with laws and truthfulness, he added.

"A good example of people without integrity are those who use Covid-19 to stay in power through emergency. Other examples are abusing government powers to entice defection of lawmakers or using funds without the approval of Parliament.

"(This also) includes those who talk about reforms and Islamic governance, but are unwilling to undertake a structural change in line with a democratic system," said Zaid.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang

Zaid said the right people to decide who deserved the majority or who had integrity were the voters.

"Elections should be held as soon as possible so we don't have to discuss matters that (some) don't understand or intentionally don't want to understand," he said.

Parliament has been suspended since Jan 11 after the Muhyiddin Yassin-led government persuaded the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to proclaim an emergency to address the Covid-19 situation.

Although most MPs have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and life is mostly back to normal, albeit with interstate travel bans still in place, Muhyiddin has not given any indication that Parliament will be convened before the emergency expires on Aug 1.  - Mkini