KUALA LUMPUR – The shock of last week’s menteri besar ouster in Perak has reverberated in the Dewan Rakyat today, with opposition MPs using it as a salvo in their renewed bid to table a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Two MPs today – R.S.N. Rayer (PH-Jelutong) and Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru) – have called for Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun to emulate his counterpart in the Perak legislative assembly and expedite the confidence motions filed against Muhyiddin.
Azhar, however, reiterated that he has no power to single-handedly expedite the debate of the 16 no-confidence motions unless an MP from the ruling party, holding a ministerial post, requests for them to be brought forward.
“I do not know how the confidence motion in Perak was handled. I do not know which standing orders were used to bring the motion ahead of the queue. I am not bound by the actions of any other speakers.
“My decision (four months ago) was based on in-depth research of the conventions in Westminster democracy. The speaker (on his own) has no power to expedite a motion of confidence,” Azhar said.
He cited the no-confidence motion filed by UK’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons, which was not expedited as the speaker had not received any indication from the government that it needed to be carried forward.
“That is the convention. We always proclaim that the convention of Westminster democracy needs to be followed and so, we must adhere to it,” Azhar said.
He added that the materialisation of a confidence motion – or lack thereof – against the prime minister can take place outside of Parliament.
“The case law that has the highest authority in the country (in matters concerning the confidence of the head of state) is Nizar v Zambry, which was heard in the Federal Court.
“It was established in that case that, in Malaysia, a no-confidence vote may not necessarily come from the floor of the state assembly,” Azhar said.
He was citing Perak’s 2009 constitutional crisis, which was due to the tussle for the menteri besar post between Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin and Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir. – The Vibes, December 8, 2020
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