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KUALA LUMPUR – Despite the announcement by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that the party withdrew support for the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ruling coalition, it seems party MPs will still be seated with the government bloc.
Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon told The Vibes that the seating positions in the House will not be changed and Umno’s seating will be per status quo.
“As of today, there will be no changes. We will follow the seating in the last session. We can only make the changes if we have received an official letter from the party. As of now, we have not received any letters,” said Rashid.
Meanwhile, Zahid told The Vibes that he leaves the party’s sitting arrangement to the discretion of the Dewan Rakyat speaker’s office.
“We leave it to the speaker’s office. We didn’t send any letter (to change seating position). We never said we are not supporting PN. We are not supporting Muhyiddin, that’s all. We never sent a letter to change our position,” the Bagan Datuk MP said.
Similarly, none of Umno’s ministers had backed Zahid’s call, but had instead announced their unanimous support for the Muhyiddin administration yesterday.
Last Wednesday, Malaysia’s largest Malay-based party announced that it withdrew support for the PN coalition led by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, despite Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob being appointed deputy prime minister.
However, it was reported by Malaysiakini that Ismail Sabri had received Zahid’s tacit blessing before he accepted the appointment.
Under parliamentary convention, government backbenchers and ministers are seated in one section of the lower House, while the opposition bloc are seated on another side, and the independents are seated by themselves.
One can usually tell whether the government commands the majority of parliamentary support from the seating positions of the MPs. – The Vibes, July 15, 2021
