PETALING JAYA: Caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has dismissed claims he did not consult his Cabinet before advising the King to dissolve Parliament, pointing out that they had discussed the matter twice.
At a Perak Barisan Nasional rally in Bagan Datuk, Ismail admitted that there were differing opinions from the ministers on the move to dissolve Parliament.
“I told them that if they did not agree, I can just dissolve the Cabinet (and) sack everyone. I can do that.
“(My) mistake. I should have fired all of them but I am not that kind of a person as I am a good, kind man,” said the Umno vice-president, drawing cheers from the crowd at the event.
Nonetheless, Ismail said he told his ministers at the last Cabinet meeting that their relationship will remain intact though most of their respective parties are set to clash in the 15th general election (GE15).
“As Muslims, we should be keeping our ties among ourselves intact,” he said.
On Oct 6, it was reported that 12 ministers from Perikatan Nasional (PN) had written to the King to express their opposition toward dissolving Parliament.
They cited the year-end floods and the country’s economic recovery efforts as reasons to hold GE15 next year.
Meanwhile, Ismail also hit out at DAP over Charles Santiago’s suit to challenge the dissolution of Parliament, though he did not explicitly name the former Klang MP in his speech.
The prime minister claimed that DAP was essentially challenging the King’s decision to grant his consent for the dissolution.
“This is how evil DAP is, by being disrespectful and disloyal to the King. DAP has shown its true colours. That is why we need to make sure that Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) ambition to take over Putrajaya remains a dream,” he added.
Santiago had filed the suit on Oct 11, naming Ismail, the government and the Election Commission (EC) as respondents. He is claiming that Ismail had breached the provisions in the Federal Constitution.
He sought a declaration that Ismail’s request to the King to dissolve Parliament was null and void as it was not made on the advice of the Cabinet. Lawyers for the government have filed an application to strike out the suit.
Santiago had also maintained that the suit had nothing to do with challenging the King’s decision to dissolve Parliament but was filed because Ismail did not have sufficient support to seek the King’s consent for the dissolution.
Ismail also said PH should be glad that the country was going to the polls since it had repeatedly called his government illegitimate and a “backdoor” administration.
He also maintained that there was no bad blood between him and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, saying these claims were aimed at driving a wedge between the two of them. - FMT
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