We need rules to allow impeaching PM, Wan Junaidi says

 

Senate president Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar called for the introduction of rules to impeach the prime minister when necessary.

“Impeachment of the prime minister, we don’t have in our rules. It should be introduced. It was done in England in the 1800s,” he said during a keynote address at the ‘Political Stability in Hung Parliament’ forum today.

The former law minister likened this to laws in the United Kingdom where its former prime minister Tony Blair was nearly impeached in 2004 for high crime and misdemeanours following evidence of collusion between him and US president George W Bush regarding the attack on Iraq.

However, the motion to impeach Blair was never debated in the House of Commons.

Speaking to reporters later, Wan Junaidi elaborated that he wanted provisions in Parliament’s standing orders to enable lawmakers to take action against the prime minister.

Wan Junaidi acknowledged that Malaysia’s parliamentary system has a ‘vote of no confidence’ motion.

However, he said the motion, which could be submitted by both sides of the political divide, could never see the light of day.

”Of course, the government will tell the minister (in charge of parliamentary affairs) not to (allow the motion to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat).

“(Even if) the leader of the opposition were to table that motion, they will be subject to the general rule that the government’s affairs must be given priority. Then this motion will never see the light of day,” he said.

Wan Junaidi also called for the opposition leader to be included in the tabling of a private member’s bill.

“We are one of the few countries that don’t allow private members’ bills. I want to make it a reality. I would like to be on the joint committee.

“I will discuss it with the Dewan Rakyat speaker and once he agrees, we will go ahead with it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wan Junaidi said Malaysians should not be left in the dark about bilateral agreements signed by Putrajaya.

He added that similar processes should be done for withdrawals from any treaties and agreements as well.

In addition, he also called for a fixed-parliamentary term law to complement the anti-hopping law. - Mkini