Then and now: Art Harun on no-confidence vote

 

With Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's majority in the Dewan Rakyat in doubt and a flood of no-confidence motions, the spotlight has once again fallen on Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

After Umno's Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah wrote to Azhar imploring him to allow the no-confidence motion to be voted on, Azhar responded with a lengthy comment piece on why it cannot happen.

However, a video of Azhar saying otherwise - five years ago - has now gone viral on social media. 

In a 2015 talk show video titled "Art of the Matter: How to Overthrow a Government (Legally)", Azhar spoke about how the Dewan Rakyat speaker had stalled a bill by PAS on hudud by prioritising government bills.

Under the parliamentary convention, all government bills and motions will be placed at the top of the Order Paper while non-government matters will be placed at the bottom.

In that way, the government can keep introducing new bills and motions and any matters by the opposition would never see the light of day.

Azhar, in the talk show produced by The Malaysian Insider, said this was exactly what the government did with the hudud bill, but he argued that a no-confidence motion cannot be treated in the same way.

"What the speaker did was he put all the government business first and after all the government business has been concluded, there wasn't any more time for the hudud bill to be debated. So it was thwarted in that sense.

"Now, can the speaker do that in respect of a no-confidence vote? The answer is 'no'. Because, again, by constitutional practice, a motion of no confidence must be brought first on the list.

"That is by convention or constitutional practice. It is not by law," he said in the talk show that was uploaded on Sept 10, 2015.

Azhar, better known as Art Harun, came under the spotlight recently, after it was revealed on Oct 14 that Tengku Razaleigh, who goes by the nickname Ku Li, had written to him about the matter.

'A lie against the Constitution'

In the letter, dated Sept 25, Tengku Razaleigh sought assurance that Azhar will allow a no-confidence motion to go to the floor, stressing that the refusal to do so would be a disservice to the Federal Constitution.

“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," Tengku Razaleigh had said.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

After the letter was made public, Azhar responded a day later, outlining the legal arguments and precedents with regard to Standing Orders 14 and 15.

The gist of Azhar's argument was that any non-government business can only leap over government business if it receives backing from a minister.

"So, despite the strident protestation of all who proclaim expertise on this issue, two things are clear under the law.

"They are, government businesses take precedence and only a minister can initiate the process of moving any non-government businesses to jump the queue, so to speak," he said.

Azhar also argued on a suggested alternative to invoke Standing Order 18(1), which allows the tabling of a motion if it is of urgent public importance.

However, he said a motion under Standing Order 18(1) is only for discussion purposes and not to vote for or against any resolution.

"A motion of no-confidence requires voting. Standing Order 18(1) cannot, therefore, be used.

"For the House to just discuss, without voting, the matter of whether there is no-confidence against the government would be a futile political exercise above nothing else," he said.

Summing up his argument, Azar said he will therefore deal with all motions sent to this office based on these arguments.

Not Azhar's first video

This is not the first time an old video of Azhar's has gone viral after he became the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

In July, a video from the same series of talk show went viral. It showed Azhar criticising then Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia for not taking action against an MP who made a sexist remark in 2018. 

This emerged after Azhar did not take action against Umno's Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (above) who called DAP's Batu Kawan MP Kasthuriraani Patto "dark" (gelap).

This was on July 13, the same day that Azhar was sworn in as the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

When Kasthuriraani expressed outrage during the sitting, Azeez then told her to use "powder". 

Azeez later retracted his statement but opposition MPs continued to press Azhar to make a ruling on the matter but he refused.

However, a day later, Azhar instructed Azeez to apologise, after reviewing the Hansard. 

"I have scrutinised the Hansard on the remarks and I found that the words offensive. I wish to instruct Baling (MP) to apologise and retract the words,"  Azhar said.

Azeez complied and claimed that he was merely saying that the vicinity of the Kasthuriraani was "dark", and not her personally. - Mkini