GEORGE TOWN – Two senior lawyers here are expressing concern about the manner in which political coalitions are being asked to negotiate and gather enough MPs to form a new government, following the lack of a clear winner in the 15th general election (GE15).
As Pakatan Harapan (PH) won the most seats, at 82 (including Muda), the coalition’s chairman should be invited by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for an audience, lawyers Mohd Yusmaidi Yusoff and S. Raveentharan said.
This is in accordance with the convention under the Westminster system of democratic parliamentary governance that Malaysia practices as a Commonwealth country, both of them told The Vibes.
The two, who are also former elected representatives, said the Westminster system would normally see the coalition or party with the highest number of seats given the first choice to form a new government.
This is in the event after an election when no party or coalition secures a simple majority.
“The custodian of the federal constitution, who is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, needs to first invite PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for an audience.
“Then, the onus is on Anwar to convince the palace that he has the necessary figures to form a stable and sustainable government.
“If he fails then, Perikatan Nasional (PN) should be invited,” said Yusmaidi, who was formerly Balik Pulau MP.
In GE15, after PH’s 82 seats, PN has the second highest number of MPs at 73, and Barisan Nasional (BN) has 30. Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has 22, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, six, Warisan, three, Parti Bangsa Malaysia, one and two more are independents.
Another two seats are still vacant – Padang Serai which will hold its election on December 7 following the death of one candidate prior to GE15 two days ago, and the Baram seat where voting was suspended due to bad weather.
Given the lack of a single party with a majority win, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong yesterday decreed that coalition and party heads submit their political combinations, as well as the name of their prime minister candidate and evidence of MPs’ support, to the palace by 2pm today.
Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah also said that his decision as the monarch on the formation of a new government and appointment of the prime minister through this process would be final.
However, Yusmaidi said given the coalition’s seat numbers, the palace should allow PH the room to form the next government or a minority one.
“The first choice is PH. We cannot unilaterally ignore this. In the spirit of democracy and in accordance with the rule of law, PH should be given the chance.
“It is our chance to shine at our democracy. We cannot allow the process to be distorted by asking all coalitions to submit their lists of prime ministers at the same time,” said Yusmadi.
“There is a reason why we participate in an election, which is to seek the mandate from the people over who is best qualified to govern. If we ignore it, why are we conducting an election in the first place?” he added.
Yusmaidi’s views were echoed by Raveentharan, who said PN with the second most number of seats, would be next in line to form a government if PH fails.
“I think we overlook how the (Westminster) system functions, granted that we never experienced a hung parliament after an election is conducted,” he said of Malaysia’s decades of one-party rule by BN until recent elections.
Raveentharan, who was formerly Batu Uban assemblyman, urged the Election Commission to undertake the burden of advising the palace about the proper and due process involved in the appointment of an elected government.
Raveentharan also said that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) had run foul of the law by issuing a statement that it would work with PN, BN, and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to form the next government with several other MPs.
“The lawyers in GPS need to advise their client that the benefit of the doubt needs to be accorded to PH first to form the government,” he said, referring to the statement by GPS Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg yesterday.
Both Yusmadi and Raveentharan said though they are also politicians, they were speaking about the matter as legal practitioners.
Raveentharan also said that if due process is abused, it will show in terms of the economic institutions faltering, a continued weak ringgit and a stock market decline.
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), also stated its disagreement with the process of asking party leaders to submit statutory declarations (SDs) of their MPs who are willing to give support to a prime minister candidate to form the new government.
Bersih was commenting on Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun’s instructions to parties yesterday to use SDs.
“The speaker should know that the use of SDs for the formation of the government has been proven to be a failure, again and again, contributing to much instability over the years.
“The most important goal in this process (for negotiating to form a new government) is to ensure a sustainable and stable government, and this can only be achieved through a carefully negotiated agreement between the parties and it should not be hastily rushed through using SDs,” Bersih said in a statement.
The elections reform coalition also warned that rushing the process could open the door to MPs declaring support for a prime minister candidate in exchange for positions.
“It is unreasonable that party leaders are rushed into deals before all their MPs have the chance to deliberate and be heard. No timeline should be set for this important process.
“It is better to be slow and steady in establishing a stable government than to rush and risk sending our nation into endless political machinations the next few years,” Bersih said. – The Vibes, November 21, 2022
