KUALA LUMPUR – Upon Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s long-delayed decision yesterday to open his administration to bipartisan workings while claiming that no single individual or party has a majority in Parliament, Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad – a stalwart presence in Malaysian politics – shot back with an immediate rebuke, reminding the leader that it is the king – not the prime minister – who decides who has a majority.
“It is not a constitutional crisis,” Shahrir was quoted by Free Malaysia Today, “but he is stretching the constitution too far.”
“It is like he added another provision in Article 43 that he remains prime minister because no other person has the majority. That is not in the constitution.”
Just a day before, Shahrir – a former Federal Territories minister and social welfare minister in the first Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration in the 1980s, and domestic trade and consumer affairs minister in the Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration – detailed the unravelling of the Muhyiddin administration, which, he asserted in an exclusive interview with The Vibes, had committed “error upon error”.
“The biggest error that Muhyiddin committed”, he said, “was to stop Parliament from convening because Parliament could be a platform to bring about consensus and unity.”
Admonishing the approach and style of the present administration, likening it to one that operates as a “cabal”, Shahrir emphasised: “As a leader, you cannot say ‘this (consensus) is not in my personality’, and I do not want to be interfered with, do not want to be hindered.”
“As a leader, you must be a democrat; you have to believe in the democratic system that is actualised in Parliament. Even during an emergency, there is no excuse for not allowing it to convene.
It is amazing to me that at a time when consultation is so important, you refuse to talk, refuse to listen to anyone. Perhaps they are guided by their social media. Being insular does not work, and it surely cannot work in the midst of a crisis.”
Ironic, perhaps, coming from a long-time Umno member, given that the party holds a lion’s share of cabinet positions, including the deputy prime minister post.
On what influence Umno ministers may have on the decision-making process within the Muhyiddin administration, Shahrir said: “They do not have any influence over the prime minister and Perikatan Nasional.”
“They do not even seem to have influence over each other, since even Umno ministers are divided.”
“This government has fallen, right? Yet, there are those who pretend it has not, still saying they have a majority. And these are senior members of Parliament, not first-timers. I am surprised that they are still hanging on to office.”
Among the first to acknowledge deep divisions exist within Umno, Shahrir nevertheless concedes that this period out of government has allowed the party – once considered the “natural party of governance” – to reinvent itself.
“The party grassroots are strong and have carried on with no prospects.
“We need to cleanse ourselves of this image of being a political party with leaders who only look for projects and contracts. We have to convince the people that we are here because we believe in the public and the struggle.
“The cleansing process must go on; those who want to survive as rentiers and commission agents, and those who want to save themselves from court cases, they can leave. And that is good for the party.
“What we (Umno) need to look at are real issues of institutional change and institutional reform.” – The Vibes, August 14, 2021
The full interview with Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad will be published on The Vibes tomorrow
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