Speaker rules out no-confidence vote for current sitting

Datuk Seri Najib Razak leaving the Parliament building yesterday. A much-hyped no-confidence vote against him can now only see the light of day at the next parliamentary sitting, the speaker announced today. – Reuters pic, October 20, 2015.

Pakatan Harapan's planned no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may not see the light of day at the current Parliament sitting which ends on December 3.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said motions filed under Standing Orders 26 and 27 need to be submitted 14 days before the start of a Parliament sitting.

The current sitting, the last for the year, began yesterday.

But only yesterday did opposition leader and Permatang Pauh MP, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail announce that she would file a no-confidence motion against Najib under Standing Order 26 in the current session.

"I want to remind Permatang Pauh if she wants to go ahead with this motion and if the motion fulfilled Standing Orders 26 and 27, even if it is accepted, it will only be at the next sitting and not this sitting," Pandikar said today.

Parliament will sit again next year in March.

Pandikar said he is raising this now to pre-empt accusations that the speaker was afraid of the prime minister if he disallowed the no-confidence motion.

"If the speaker disallows a no-confidence motion by Permatang Pauh, will she say the speaker is afraid of the prime minister?

"But is this fair to me?" he asked.

However, several opposition MPs including Tony Pua (DAP - Petaling Jaya Utara) pointed out it is unfair to Dr Wan Azizah for Pandikar to jump the gun and assume that is how she would react.

Sim Tze Tzin (PKR - Bayan Baru) said the Standing Order did not specifically mention the 14-day requirement for motions to be submitted before the start of every sitting.

Anthony Loke (DAP - Seremban) said there were instances when Dewan Rakyat accepted motions tabled in the midst of its sitting, citing Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS - Marang) who previously had twice submitted two private members bill on hudud after parliament sitting had commenced and both times, the motion appeared in the Order Paper.

"There is precedence to this," he said.

To this, Pandikar said he took note of the matter.

He invited MPs who were arguing over the technicalities of the matter to his Chambers for further discussion.

- TMI