PN will pay 'heavy price for stealing' parliamentary democracy - VK Liew

Former de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government will have to pay a heavy price for “stealing” parliamentary democracy.

This comes after it was reported earlier today that the one-day Parliament sitting on May 18 will only have a single agenda, that is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s opening address – which ultimately slams the door shut on any no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“(I feel) absolute disgust. This backdoor government has stolen the people’s democratic rights to be heard at the earliest convenience of the Dewan Rakyat sitting.

“This PN-GPS (government) will have to pay a heavy price for stealing parliamentary democracy,” Liew (photo) said to Malaysiakini today.

Various Harapan lawmakers had called for the one-day sitting to be extended and Liew had submitted an emergency motion to extend it to eight days, but PN had contended that prolonging the gathering of MPs could pose a Covid-19 contagion risk.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also successfully filed a no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin which was accepted by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusoff.

However, at that time, de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan had stressed that only government matters would be prioritised during the one-day sitting on May 18.

In an immediate response to the new agenda today, DAP's Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had said this showed that Muhyiddin was “too worried” to have a parliamentary sitting.

"He is scared to face Harapan in Parliament and he is also afraid of the motion of no-confidence presented by Mahathir," she said.

"Malaysia has become the only country in which a new government has spent an enormous sum on an economic stimulus package to combat the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak without it being approved by Parliament.

"PN has become a government which is afraid to call for a proper Parliament sitting," she added. - Mkini