Saratok MP Ali Biju has rebutted remarks made by members of Pakatan Harapan and lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan on Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) 'conditional' support of Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob as prime minister.
The Bersatu lawmaker claimed that the various arguments made against PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement yesterday were “absurd, baseless and a measure of Harapan’s desperation”, following the opposition’s failure to receive enough support in the bid to instate a new premier.
“Firstly, Muhyiddin said support is on conditions of clean government (no persons facing criminal charges to be in cabinet), separation of powers, independence of the judiciary, and upholding constitutional monarchy.
“Harapan’s argument that this nullifies their support for Ismail Sabri is nothing short of ridiculous. Any coalition that takes power in Malaysia must in any event adhere to these conditions.
“No decent reasonable person, MP or political party, can possibly object to it," Ali (above) said in a statement today.
“Are Harapan and Ambiga now against clean government and independence of the judiciary?” he asked.
Ali asserted that the statutory declarations submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong were made unconditionally, with this now disclosed to the ruler twice over by the MPs.
Yesterday, Ambiga argued on Twitter that PN’s conditional support for the Bera MP should not be considered valid.
The series of tweets were written in response to Muhyiddin’s statement that support from the coalition’s 50 MPs for Ismail Sabri is conditional.
Her remarks were also echoed by Amanah MPs Mahfuz Omar and Hanipa Maidin.
The latter had accused PN of misleading the Agong regarding their support for Ismail Sabri’s premiership.
Separately, Hanipa had criticised Muhyiddin’s inconsistent position on fighting "kleptocrats" after the caretaker prime minister was alleged to show that he had “no problems perpetuating the kleptocratic government”.
In his statement yesterday, Muhyiddin specified that the incoming cabinet must not include MPs facing criminal charges, and respect the separation of powers between the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature.
Ali claimed that the remarks made by the trio showed total disregard of Article 43(2)(a) - which dictates that support for the prime minister is gauged by the stand of members of the Dewan Rakyat individually.
“It is astonishing that Mahfuz, Hanipa, and Ambiga who was a former Bar president, have taken this extreme and illogical position; one would have thought that they would have warmly welcomed the support of PN for a clean government as well as the independence of the judiciary.
“Instead their desperation for Harapan to take federal power has driven them all to a new low,” he added. - Mkini
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