GEORGE TOWN – Pakatan Harapan (PH) should be brought back into the government fold if there is a change in prime minister and government, said PKR senator Mohd Yusmadi Yusoff.
Yusmadi said PH is the rightful coalition to lead the country after earning the people’s mandate in the last general election.
“If we do not engage PH and bring it back in, we would only be repeating the mistakes of the present government, thinking that it can govern with just a simple majority without reaching out to its foes.
“The result is an unstable administration,” he said.
Yusmadi said that if Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin were to resign honourably, his successor should be wise not to sideline PH as it would prolong the irony of governing without the people’s mandate.
“The person may be different, but the outcome may be the same. The administration would suffer from an inability to beat the pandemic, restore economic growth and bring stability to the country.
Worse still, it may aggravate an already unsavoury political situation when it is supposed to do the opposite, which is to improve the fight against Covid-19 and nurse the economy back to healthy growth levels.”
Malaysia, he said, practises a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy model.
Citing the United States’ Bill of Rights, Yusmadi said a government is only legitimate if its authority comes from the people, with the monarchy overseeing the practice of such a system.
“The legitimacy of the government comes from the people in a democratic system. It is crystal clear. That is why we have elections. The people shall decide.
“But in such troubling times with a pandemic besieging the country, besides the economy being brought to ruins for certain segments of society, the (question of the) wisdom of the government must come about... due to the inability to hold free and fair elections at present,” he said.
He said he also hopes that the attorney-general will help the government on issues concerning the federal constitution so that it does not come up with decisions that could be deemed unconstitutional. – The Vibes, August 13, 2021
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