A letter purportedly from Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah urging the Dewan Rakyat speaker to allow a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to be debated in the august House was released today.
The release of the letter comes just a day after the Gua Musang MP was summoned to the palace by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
This after the king granted an audience to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim who presented documents purportedly showing he had gained majority support in Parliament.
Razaleigh's letter is dated Sept 25, 2020, which is two days after Anwar publicly announced he had gained enough majority support to form a new government.
In his letter, which was sighted by Malaysiakini, Razaleigh said the no-confidence motion was "very important" to determine whether the prime minister had the support of a majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
“The no-confidence motion is very important for several constitutional reasons, including the legitimacy of the current government under the leadership of the prime minister. If the motion is supported by a majority of MPs, then the next constitutional step is to present this to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“Without the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat, the prime minister has no right to claim legitimacy to the position and avoiding this reality is in bad faith and is a lie against the constitution.
“In terms of the constitution, there are no provisions in the Standing Orders that can prevent this motion from being tabled in the august House as a pressing matter.
“With all respect, I request an assurance that the no-confidence motion will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat as a priority in the next sitting,” Razaleigh said in the letter addressed to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.
Malaysiakini is seeking the speaker's comment on the above matter.
Azhar had responded to Razaleigh on Sept 29 through a letter in which he said the Standing Orders stated that government matters must be prioritised over other matters.
He also pointed out that private motions submitted by MPs were arranged in the Order Paper in the order they were submitted.
Not only that, he said the arrangement of the current Order Paper was actually done by his predecessor Mohamad Ariff Yusof.
Azhar said any MPs could provide notice to the speaker's office to table a motion and he would consider it based on the Standing Orders.
“Hence, I have no problems for the House to consider private motions if all government matters have been resolved or if there is a motion by a minister under Provision 14(2) to prioritise private motions,” he said.
He said if Razaleigh, popularly known as "Ku Li", wanted priority to be given to a private motion, then he should liaise with de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan.
As for him, Azhar said that all his decisions as the Dewan Rakyat speaker on what motions should be prioritised were based on the Standing Orders.
Political graft danger
Meanwhile, in his letter released today, Razaleigh also said that Muhyiddin had offered him the position of Petronas’ adviser, a post traditionally offered to former prime ministers.
“I declined the offer […] because I am concerned about Article 48(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution on ‘the disqualification for membership of Parliament’ if ‘he holds any office of profit,” Razaleigh noted.
He said this was meant to prevent MPs from supporting or voting for a particular government as a form of political graft.
He said political graft has caused Malaysia’s parliamentary democracy to face a serious challenge and he was worried whether such a practice had infiltrated the nation's democracy quietly.
After the PN government came into power in February, the opposition had criticised the various political appointments made by Muhyiddin.
They had claimed that this was his attempt to consolidate support for him and subsequently his razor-thin majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
The no-confidence motion was submitted by former prime minister and Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad before the first parliamentary session of the year.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the first parliamentary session of the year was shortened to one-day sitting on May 18 with the only thing on the agenda being the Agong’s speech.
The motion was not brought up at the next parliamentary session in July either. - Mkini
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