BOMBSHELL – MAHATHIR IN IT ALL ALONG? SENATE APPOINTMENTS SUBMITTED TO DR M DELAYED AS FAR BACK AS OCTOBER – PERHAPS TO ALLOW COUP MASTERS TO PICK THEIR OWN MEN – BRACE NOW FOR MUHYIDDIN TO HELICOPTER IN ‘FAKE’ NON-MALAY REPRESENTATION INTO HIS CABINET VIA REDUNDANT MCA, MIC & PERHAPS GERAKAN

As the political crisis that unfolded in late February has drawn to a conclusion, sources from within the outgoing Pakatan Harapan administration have claimed that a long list of Dewan Negara vacancies was deliberately kept open to allow any potential new government a free hand in choosing ministers or deputy ministers to be appointed as senators.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, a source also claimed that the delays in filling the 16 Dewan Negara posts cost Harapan the chance to be dominant in the Senate should there be any controversial legislation that needs checking.

That advantage now lies with the Perikatan Nasional government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“It is very clear that Harapan parties put together a list of proposed Dewan Negara appointments,” said the source.

“Activist Ivy Josiah was among the names and this list was prepared as far back as October and submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.”

On Sept 10, 2019, Malaysiakini reported that Josiah was in line for the Senate appointment.

Senate president SA Vigneswaran (photo) confirmed that it has always been the practice that the secretary of the Dewan Negara writes to the Prime Minister’s Office to inform the prime minister of the vacancies.

“We informed them a few times that there were lots of vacancies to be filled, but there was no follow up,” he told Malaysiakini.

“I wanted them to fill the vacancies, not because I thought Harapan should quickly fill up the seats with its supporters but because I thought a full Dewan Negara will have more lively debate and input on legislation.

“I have no knowledge of any nomination lists behind forwarded,” said Vigneswaran, who is also MIC president.

He was also unsure if the Dewan Negara vacancies could be maintained to give the new regime a more-balanced ministerial line-up given its shortage of Indian and Chinese MPs.

The new Perikatan Nasional regime has only two Indian MPs (MIC’s M Saravanan and PKR defector Edmund Santhara) and two Chinese MPs (Wee Ka Siong and Wee Jeck Seng of MCA).

“It’s not for me to say if the vacancies will be used to bring in MIC or MCA leaders. That’s for the new leadership’s discretion,” said Vigneswaran.

PKR Senator Yusmadi Yusoff says he found the delay in filling the vacancies a little puzzling.

“I don’t have the facts for certain but there is quite a big number of vacancies. I believe it is 16 and normally it is up to the prime minister to appoint,” he said.

“The appointment process is not very transparent, even when I was appointed I was caught by surprise.

“The system is a bit like a black box. I am proposing reforms to make Senate appointments more transparent based on the Canadian model of Justin Trudeau,” said Yusmadi.

“I know in the case of Malacca that up until now they haven’t sorted it out,” he added.

This was in reference to the Nov 25, 2019 incident in which then Malacca government motion to nominate PKR leader Halim Bachik, who is aligned to party president Anwar Ibrahim as a senator was defeated after two PKR assemblypersons Ginie Lim and Muhammad Jailani Khamis left just before the vote.

The pair were aligned to then party deputy Azmin Ali. The Malacca Harapan government fell yesterday with Jailani having played a role by switching his allegiance to supporting the new administration.

Another Harapan source told Malaysiakini that these delays to the Senate appointments were caused by those in the outgoing administration who were part of the plot to bring down that government. The source declined to name specific figures.

“I can’t say why so many were left vacant,” said Yusmadi (photo).

“We could have expected many senators recommended by Harapan through (then premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but now they will be made on the recommendation of the new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin,” he added.

Growing Senate vacancies

The Dewan Negara compromises 70 senators of whom 26 are elected by the state legislative assemblies, with two senators for each state, while the other 44 are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, including four who are appointed to represent the federal territories.

Senate appointments are for three-year terms, with a maximum of two terms.

Prominent members of the Dewan Negara include ex-minister P Waythamoorty, and former deputy ministers Liew Chin Tong, Marzuki Yahya and Raja Kamarul Bahrain, as well as Amanah vice-president Husam Musa and MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker.

A number of Umno-appointed senators like Khairuddin ES Abdul Samad, Megat Zulkarnain Omardin and Yahya Mat Ghani completed their second three-year term on Oct 6.

The senator spot reserved for people with disabilities also fell vacant when K Bathmavathi’s term expired on Oct 18.

The first three-year term of Umno’s Malacca appointee Abidullah Salleh ended on Oct 26, while the terms of six more Umno-aligned senators – Khairul Azwan Harun, Mustapa Kamal Mohd Yusoff, Hanafi Mamat, Rabiyah Ali, Rahemah Idris and Fahariyah Md Nordin – all expired on Dec 6.

The reserved spot for the Siamese minority was occupied by Aknan Ehtook and that too fell vacant on Dec 14.

Additionally, two more spots fell vacant due to the deaths of Indian Progressive Front president M Sambanthan died on Oct 15 and MCA’s Ong Chong Swen (photo) on Nov 19.

The Dewan Negara last met on Dec 19, 2019 meaning that there was ample opportunity to fill the vacancies while Harapan still formed the administration.

The Senate as check and balance

Vigneswaran himself is coming to the end of his second term in June and believes that the Dewan Negara can play a key role in check and balance.

“It’s been a fantastic experience. The past two years have been the first time in history that Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara had different coalitions having a majority and it made for lively debates.

“I too had the challenge to keep them under control, well behaved and work together. Work together on reforms, which all of us agree are needed. Hopefully, the new government will work on reforms too.

“The effectiveness of Dewan Negara is linked to the Dewan Rakyat as we can only debate whichever law is passed by them, so it’s essential that they work on worthy legislation,” he added.

Yusmadi concurred, saying that the Dewan Negara has a different ambience and spirit to the Dewan Rakyat.

“It is meant to be a voice for states and federal territories on a more even level. Perlis, for example, has as many senators as Selangor. We have special voices representing the Siamese community, the disabled and so on.

“I think in Dewan Negara we don’t play the petty partisan line. I have received bipartisan universal support and we had good debates on anti-fake news legislation and SST (sales and service tax). Vignaeswaran is fair and objective in managing the Senate.

“This fiasco makes me see the potential of Dewan Negara to be the voice of people, the voice of reason in an objective way,” he added.

MKINI