PN MPs want change in opposition leader, speaker waits on Hamzah

 Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul says he does not have the power to order an MP to step down as opposition leader.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said he will leave it to the opposition bloc to sort out the matter.

PETALING JAYA:

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said today the opposition bloc has sent him a letter suggesting a change in the position of the parliamentary opposition leader.

Johari said Parliament had, subsequent to that, informed previous opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin about it, but that he had yet to respond, Utusan Malaysia reported.

Johari said he did not have the power to order an MP to step down as opposition leader, and that he would leave it to the opposition bloc to sort out the matter.

“This procedure is in line with previous parliamentary practice. The opposition leader’s post is determined by the opposition bloc itself and does not fall under the speaker’s purview,” he was quoted as saying.

In April, Perikatan Nasional chairman Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said Hamzah was no longer the opposition leader, and that he had instructed PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan to send an official letter informing Johari of the vacancy.

However, Johari said at that time he had yet to be informed of Hamzah’s resignation and, as such, Hamzah technically remained the opposition leader.

Hamzah was sacked from Bersatu in February at the height of a leadership tussle with party president Muhyiddin Yassin.

Later that month, Samsuri was appointed PN chairman to replace Muhyiddin, who resigned from the post. It was also agreed that PAS would take over the opposition leader’s post. - FMT