You don’t know parliamentary ways, Warisan shoots back at Yong

Former law minister Liew Vui Keong (left) says SAPP leader Yong Teck Lee does not know an MP’s rights.

KOTA KINABALU: Former law minister Liew Vui Keong has come to the defence of Sabah chief minister Shafie Apdal for allegedly putting Sabah’s ties with Putrajaya at risk by being involved in a bid to oust Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Liew said Shafie, as an MP, was entitled to table a motion in Parliament, and he had not done so as chief minister.

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee had accused Shafie of “recklessly endangering” the state’s relationship with the federal government by being involved in moves to oust Muhyiddin and replace him with Dr Mahathir Mohamad through a confidence vote.

Shafie’s proposed motion of confidence, that Mahathir commanded the majority of the lower house, has been rejected by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

Liew said Yong, a former chief minister, had made the allegation without knowing an MP’s entitlement.

“Yong has never been an MP. He needs to understand that the parliamentary procedures entitle each MP to file their own motion,” the Warisan Batu Sapi MP said in a live video here today.

Grassroots Warisan leader Gary Dominic said Yong appeared to have gone back on his calls for autonomy by claiming that the state government’s sudden decision to allow a majority of businesses to reopen had created a lot of confusion.

“For many years, he had been fighting for it, shouting about it, and when the state government finally does something, he went on to attack the chief minister. It is obvious Yong still relies on, and is submissive to, the federal government,” he said. - FMT