Motion for eight-day parliamentary sitting accepted for debate

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof has accepted an emergency motion to decide whether to extend the one-day parliamentary sitting on May 18 to eight days.

In a statement today, Ariff (above) said he had received the motion from Batu Sapi MP Liew Vui Keong and has decided to accept some parts of the motion but not others.

The four salient points of the motion are:

• A motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
  
• A motion of confidence for Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
  
• A resolution that the Parliament is subject only to its own rules, and hence the one-day limit on the sitting is unconstitutional since Parliament is above other rules including the movement control order.
  
• A motion to extend the one-day sitting to eight days.

“Based on the reasons given, I have decided to reject some parts of the motion on grounds that it does not need to be expedited and accept some of them because it pertains to specific matters of public interest and should be expedited and can be brought forward at an upcoming Dewan Rakyat sitting,” he said.

VK Liew

Ariff did not specify which parts of the motion were accepted and which were rejected, or when the motion would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, Liew said in a statement today that Ariff had rejected the first two parts of the motion and accepted the other two that pertain the duration of the May 18 sitting.

He said the speaker had informed him of this in a letter dated May 5.

Quoting from the letter, Liew said Ariff said told him that the government of the day already had the confidence of the majority of the House.

Liew said the speaker’s ruling was premature because the decision of the members of Parliament on May 18 was yet to be known.

Nevertheless, Liew said that Ariff had said in the letter that the third and fourth parts of the motion meet the requirements of an emergency motion under the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order 18.

Malaysiakini contacted Ariff for clarification but the speaker declined to elaborate and asked for the matter to be reported based on his press release.

Pressed further on whether he has accepted the portions of Liew’s motion regarding the duration of the sitting, Ariff told Malaysiakini in a text message that, “It is good enough to follow Batu Sapi (MP’s) explanation.” - Mkini