KUALA LUMPUR – Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun’s stand that a no-confidence motion must be mooted by a federal minister has trained all eyes on Umno’s nine ministers in Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s cabinet.
Seeing that Bersatu will obviously favour Muhyiddin as prime minister, with the possibility that PAS plans on hedging its bets – any motion for a no-confidence vote will be left to an Umno minister.
The nine Umno leaders are: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Higher Education Minister Datuk Noraini Ahmad, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique, and Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
Umno itself is split between two camps at the moment – those favouring PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Malaysia’s next prime minister, and those favouring Gua Musang MP and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as the candidate for the post.
However, Tengku Razaleigh’s camp might hold the key here as a source said two of his backers – Hishammuddin and Khairy – are in the cabinet when compared to Anwar’s supporters who are behind party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
The other Umno cabinet ministers so far have not made their allegiances known.
Since Anwar lacks any minister-level allies in the cabinet, the question is whether the foreign minister or the science, technology and innovation minister will make the move of filing a motion of no-confidence against Muhyiddin.
Or will they hedge their bets despite backing Tengku Razaleigh?
Azhar has maintained that under parliamentary Standing Orders 14 (1) he needs a minister to file a motion of no-confidence against the prime minister.
This particular Standing Order is the order of business for the Dewan Rakyat.
Priority is given in the following sequence: the Agong’s message; ministers’ question time; ministers’ oral answers; matters of urgent public importance; government bills; motions relating to order of business (moved by a minister); motion on non-governmental bills; and other items of business based on the arrangement in the order paper.
Constitutional expert Prof Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi said the Standing Order does not supersede the Federal Constitution when it comes to matters of democracy.
He said the Standing Orders are not even a “law” passed by Parliament but are merely internal rules to regulate the House. It cannot override Article 43(4) of the Federal Constitution that deals with the issue of loss of confidence.
However, Azhar, popularly known as Art Harun, has not backed down from his position.
This is despite being flooded by requests to table a motion of no-confidence by several federal lawmakers – particularly those from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s independent Pejuang camp.
To date, Azhar has buried demands from Sri Gading MP Datuk Shahruddin Salleh, Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir, Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik, Jerlun MP Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir and Kubang Pasu MP Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.
Tengku Razaleigh had also written in to ask why Azhar had not allowed Dr Mahathir’s first motion of no-confidence to be tabled.
It was in reply to Tengku Razaleigh, that Azhar used the Standing Orders to not allow the motion to be tabled unless it was mooted by a federal minister.
Many Umno leaders have voiced unhappiness over Muhyiddin’s imbalanced cabinet where there are more Bersatu ministers compared to Umno ministers even though Umno commands more federal seats.
This unhappiness has spilled over to state-level administrations where recently Muhyiddin had named his party member Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noh as Sabah chief minister at the conclusion of the state election despite Umno holding more state seats.
The same applied to the situation in Perak where Bersatu’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu remains as mentri besar even though his party holds five state seats compared to Umno’s 25.
Similarly, Umno veteran and Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had said Muhyiddin’s administration is prosecuting Umno members for corruption charges but not a whisper has been heard regarding the investigation over a Bersatu minister’s alleged homosexual sex video.
One of its supreme council members and Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman has demanded that the post of deputy prime minister should be given to Umno as a recognition of its influence in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance.
Umno secretary-general and Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan even went as far as saying that if demands for a new political cooperation agreement were not met, the party would consider leaving PN – a move that would immediately wipe out Muhyiddin’s razor-thin majority. – The Vibes, October 17, 2020
