Confidence motion against Anwar won’t be tabled, says Dewan Speaker

 

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said he has yet to receive a request from any opposition MP for a confidence motion against the prime minister.

SHAH ALAM: 

Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul says he believes the opposition will not be tabling a confidence motion against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the upcoming sitting, despite the latter challenging Perikatan Nasional (PN) to do so.

Johari said that to date he has yet to receive any request from any opposition MP.

So, I assume there is not going to be one (confidence motion),

 he told reporters after attending a town hall with students at UiTM Shah Alam, here.

On Sept 20, Anwar challenged the opposition to table a confidence motion against him at the Dewan Rakyat sitting beginning on Oct 14 following calls for him to step down as prime minister.

Anwar said he would welcome such a motion being tabled.

This is not the first time that the Pakatan Harapan chairman had issued such a challenge.

He did likewise in May and July last year, saying he would have no qualms if the opposition wanted to table a confidence motion against him. He also dared PN to do so by saying that he was willing to shorten the notice period required.

He repeated his challenge on Jan 11 this year.

Meanwhile, Johari advised MPs across the board to stop politicking in the lower house and focus on holding substantive discussions instead.

Johari lamented that many MPs would resort to politicking when raising issues and accused them of trying to score brownie points.

In the Dewan, you represent the people and you should talk about issues related to them. If you want to play politics, do it outside (the Dewan),

 he said.

When asked about what he expected from parliamentarians, Johari cited a famous quote from an American theologian and writer James Freeman Clarke.

Do not be politicians all the time because politicians think about the next election, while leaders think about the next generation. - FMT