KUALA LUMPUR – Pejuang MPs have yet to decide whether they will attend the special Dewan Rakyat sitting at the end of this month, said party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The former prime minister also clarified today that he has no particular candidate for the country’s next leader, although he mentioned his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir and former protégé International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali during a YouTube programme hosted by comedian Harith Iskandar.
On the sitting that starts July 26, Dr Mahathir said he believed the meeting would not live up to regular parliamentary sessions.
“It is merely a briefing session that uses the parliamentary hall. Parliamentary sessions have their own rules,” he said during an online press conference this evening.
“This does not at all comply with parliamentary rules. For example, the government does not want to accept motions to be tabled.”
Dr Mahathir, who is the Langkawi MP, said parliamentarians need to table motions during the sitting, which only takes place over five days.
He added that the emergency ordinance will only be discussed on August 2, but the matter is redundant as the proclamation expired on August 1.
“This has no meaning, but if the government wants to inform parliamentarians on something affecting the country, there would usually be a white paper, which can be questioned.
“But there is not even a white paper, it is just an oral briefing. We already know what the government wants to do.”
Currently, Pejuang MP occupies four seats out of the total of 222 parliamentary constituencies.
Dr Mahathir suggested that the government was disingenuous in holding the meetings and did not abide by the decree of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who repeatedly urged for Parliament to be held.
“There are no debates, no motions to be tabled, and we are only hearing a briefing where we cannot raise any concerns. For five days, we will only hear speeches of explanations from the government on things we already know about.”
Dr Mahathir’s picks of his son and Azmin for the prime minister’s post have led to a flurry of responses online.
The 96-year-old made the remarks when answering questions from the audience in a live session of celebrity Harith’s YouTube programme What’s Going On, Malaysia? last night.
He said he did not want to mention any names, but when pressed to answer, he merely said that some people believed his candidate was Azmin due to the perceived closeness with the Gombak MP.
“He (Azmin) is not my candidate. The only thing I said was this (Azmin’s appointment) is the people’s opinion that he was qualified to be prime minister.
“When asked for another three names, and as I felt guilt (for being unable to answer), I was forced to say Mukhriz among them. But this is up to them (Azmin and Mukhriz), they have to fight their own struggle.”
Dr Mahathir said the names he mentioned should not be considered as his candidates because he did not have any in mind.
During the press conference today, Dr Mahathir also reiterated the government’s need to form a National Recovery Council to help the country battle the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also said he was willing to step down from his post as Pejuang chairman if asked to lead the government-formed council to avoid any political interests from hampering the efforts.
However, he said the council’s freedom to act would be impeded if it was overseen by the prime minister.
“We don’t want to be under the prime minister, we want to be free. And for that reason, we want to have an original council that we propose.”
“The government apparently just copied our ideas and now wants to find out from us how to manage the Covid(-19) pandemic. We will be subject to political pressures,” he said, referring to the government’s National Recovery Plan. – The Vibes, July 15, 2021
