The Vote of Confidence Is As Per The Federal Constitution

 After almost over a year (because of the Covid) I was able to meet up with YM Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the MP for Gua Musang again. We had a very long and interesting discussion. Like all the other seniors Ku Li is just hatch-cover full of history, facts, figures and information. 

Our history people, the archives people, the media people etc should urgently sit down with all the senior politicians in the country, regardless of which party, race or religion and make video / audio recordings of their entire life experiences.  To hear of their views and their experiences is just priceless and it should be preserved for future generations.

Ok folks there are some pertinent issues about the political situation in the country.

Firstly the YDP Agong has been Constitutionally correct in his handling of the transition to the new PM.  The situation of a hung Parliament (where no single party has the majority to form a government) is not uncommon in our British system of government. In the United Kingdom there have been hung Parliaments before. 

And (according to senior lawyer Dato Dominic Puthucheary) in the event of a hung Parliament the King of England (and also our YDP Agong) do have the say to appoint a "default" Prime Minister.  The story goes that this is what happened in the appointment of Winston Churchill as PM of Great Britian  in 1940.

In such event the King / YDP Agong has the discretion to appoint whoever he sees fit as being best able to lead the government. It need not be a candidate whose party has the largest number of MPs in Parliament. Even a minority candidate can be appointed as Prime Minister.

However there is a big catch. After the King / YDP Agong  has chosen a candidate as Prime Minister (from a hung Parliament), then the Prime Minister "elect" (my choice of words) has to submit to a Vote of Confidence in Parliament to confirm that he has majority support in Parliament. Ultimately the people's representatives determine who is PM through the Vote of Confidence.

Which is why our YDP Agong has said that our new PM must submit to a Vote of Confidence in Parliament.

"..the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has reminded the person who will be chosen to face a confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat once the appointment is announced. 

Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Indera Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said the confidence vote is necessary to achieve legitimacy on behalf of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah."

And the YDP Agong has acted according to the Federal Constitution.  Bukan Tuanku buat ikut suka hati. 

Hence when Parliament convenes on 6th September 2021 the first order of business should be a vote of Confidence in the new Prime Minister.

Now this is where things get dicey again.  

Dicey as in rolling the dice

Tengku Razaleigh says he did not support Ismail Sabri for PM.  So that is one less MP for Sabri.

The more interesting news is about those 18 MPs from GPS Sarawak. Apparently the 18 GPS Sarawak folks were not unanimous in their choice for PM.  However (I am guessing to preserve their unity and to show a united response from Sarawak) they came up with that 'we will support whatever the YDP Agong decides' statement.

Hence indeed it was the YDP Agong who added the 18 MPs from GPS Sarawak in favour of Sabri.

But when it comes to a Vote of Confidence in Parliament on September 6th, 2021 where each MP casts his vote individually (and it will be a secret ballot) it remains to be seen if all 18 of the GPS MPs will still vote for Ismail Sabri.

Sabri only has 114 MPs on his side now. If just FIVE MPs switch we are back to no PM. 

So the situation in Parliament is indeed still dicey. There can be many a slip between the cup and the lip.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.