A month to go, Kit Siang pushes confidence vote

DAP leader calls for motion to be put on national agenda for all MPs.

ALOR SETAR: With exactly a month left before the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes, Lim Kit Siang has urged the DAP to resume the push for tabling a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and for all MPs to place it on the national agenda for discussion.

He said that the time had come for DAP to discuss the proposed motion with MPs from the government coalition as well as other opposition parties “as there seems to be no end to the country’s crisis of confidence”.

Speaking at a party event in Pendang, he said the confidence motion should be seriously considered because “never before in the nation’s history has a Prime Minister been dogged, hounded and haunted by so many political, economic and seemingly unending scandals”.

He cautioned that it would be premature to say whether the motion would be tabled, as this would depend on factors such as the attitude of the Speaker, parliamentary practices and procedure, and the likelihood of securing a simple majority for a vote on the motion.

However all the 222 MPs would put the matter on the national agenda for discussion, he said.

The proposed confidence motion has received the support of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has urged Malaysians to call upon their MPs to vote Najib out of office.

Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of a year-long campaign against Najib because of alleged financial wrongdoings in the government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd, as well as unresolved questions about his involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder of 2007.

Opposition parties have pledged the support of all their 87 members for the motion but require the support of at least 25 government MPs for the motion to be carried by a simple majority in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.