From Zaid Ibrahim
The group of 114 parliamentarians (Group of 114) who managed to take over the government of Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the Sheraton Move, has done it again. They managed to engineer the collapse of the eigth Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government and prop up Ismail Sabri Yaakob from Umno as the ninth prime minister.
Why is this Group of 114 so united and effective? It is not inconceivable that they could in the near future make another move to manipulate the system, engineer another collapse of the government and appoint another prime minister if some of them are not happy with the ninth prime minister.
This will cause further instability and detract the leaders from doing their work of managing the country’s affairs.
To prevent such recurrence in the future, perhaps the Palace should consider informing the parliamentarians that if the incumbent government falls, for not having a majority in Parliament, then the Palace will first invite the leader of the opposition to form the next government.
This is consistent with the Westminster convention that if the sitting prime minister loses support and resigns, the King must first invite the opposition leader to form a government.
Sir Ivor Jennings, one of the drafters of our Federal Constitution, in his book, Cabinet Government, on page 32 wrote: “The rule is that on the defeat and resignation of the prime minister, the Queen should first send for the Leader of the Opposition. This rule is the result of long practice, though it has hardened into a rule comparatively recently. Its basis is the assumption of the impartiality of the Crown. The only method by which this can be demonstrated is to send at once for the Leader of the Opposition.”
In the same book, Sir Ivor recorded on page 33 precedents where the Queen would always send for the opposition leader first in the event of a power vacuum. Among the opposition leaders invited to form a government were Sir Robert Peel in 1841, Gladstone in 1868, and Lord Hartington in 1880. Opposition leaders became prime ministers in 1905, 1924, and 1974 by this process.
I would suggest to the new prime minister Ismail to persuade the Palace to adopt this well-established Westminster parliamentary practice to deter his friends in the Group of 114 from trying to unseat him and cause more instability.
Certainly, if the King were to first invite Anwar Ibrahim to form the government, Anwar will have to find the 13 or 14 MPs to come to his side to form the government. With this knowledge that the King will invite the leader of the opposition to form the government, the Group of 114 will remain loyal and will not betray Ismail.
It will make the job of the King easier to follow the convention if the opposition parties are united and accept Anwar as the leader. Recently we heard that Shafie Apdal was also interested in becoming prime minister. I am sure Dr Mahathir Mohamad still harbours the idea of taking over for the third time.
The opposition will be hard-pressed to defeat the Group of 114 unless they put the welfare of the rakyat first. Which means they must speak with one voice and present a united front to the King. If they want a new opposition leader, change him by all means, but they need to establish to the monarch their support to an opposition leader who is ready to take over the government.
My congratulations to the ninth prime minister, Ismail. From my experience in the old days, he is a very approachable person and not very protocol conscious. Maybe you will see fewer outriders than before.
I hope he will govern fairly and not forget the poor people. That’s where many Umno leaders came from. May he continue in office undisturbed by his friends in the Group of 114. - FMT
Zaid Ibrahim is a former law minister and MP for Kota Bharu, and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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