Ku Li urges govt to conduct PM confidence vote in Parliament soon

 

A motion for a confidence vote must be immediately tabled in the Dewan Rakyat to prove newly appointed Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob commands the majority support of the august House, urged Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

The Umno advisory board chairperson said this is to allow the premier to govern the country without interference.

"(A confidence vote will) ensure the legitimacy (of Ismail Sabri as prime minister) and he can move on without being disturbed by any quarters after this.

"This was as decreed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in an official letter issued by Istana Negara prior to the appointment," he said in a statement yesterday.

Tengku Razaleigh (above, left) was responding to constitutional expert Shamrahayu Ab Aziz who said there was no provision in the Federal Constitution to force the prime minister to call for a vote of confidence to prove his legitimacy. 

The legal expert noted that the confidence vote is not a form of legislation that the MPs have given confirmation to the appointment.

"That is not necessarily so. There is no such provision in the constitution. But it is still open to Parliament, to either pass a vote of confidence or no confidence," Shamrahayu added. 

Constitutional expert Shamrahayu Ab Aziz

On Aug 18, two days after the resignation of Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet, Comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said a motion of confidence was necessary to determine the legitimacy of the new premier.

Prior to his resignation, Muhyiddin's administration set Sept 7 to test the majority support of the then prime minister via a vote of confidence.

The Dewan Rakyat will be held between Sept 6 and 30 for the first meeting of the fourth term of the 14th Parliament.

Tengku Razaleigh, who is widely known as Ku Li, however, disagreed with Shamrahayu's view.

"It is hard to accept such an opinion because of the swearing-in ceremony of the prime minister, even though this (appointment) was consented by the king for a period.

"If the vote takes place two or three weeks after the swearing-in ceremony, in a situation where the support for the premier and the government has changed and (ultimately he) loses a motion of confidence, obviously the prime minister and his cabinet must step down," he said. - Mkini