MALAYSIANS wait with bated breath for the outcome of this evening’s audience between the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The prime minister will be meeting the king at about 4pm and it is only logical that the king and Ismail Sabri will be discussing three issues: the dissolution of Parliament, the setting of a date for the general election and the tabling of tomorrow’s Budget 2023.
Talk is rife that instead of a budget being tabled, Parliament will instead be dissolved tomorrow to pave way for the 15th general election.
After all, this is the demand of Umno, the prime minister’s party, to hold the election as soon as possible come hell or highwater – literally.
The people may be fed up with the political shenanigans of the recent past which saw four prime ministers in as many years.
While they would want a strong and stable government soon, holding an election in the middle of the rainy season is not something that is appealing.
And why would Ismail Sabri and his Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz throw their painstakingly crafted election budget down the drain and not table it?
Some quarters opine that putting up a budget will offer more ammunition to the opposition as they will rip it apart line by line.
However, what will it say about a prime minister who chickens out of presenting his own budget?
It is a case of damned if he does or damned if he doesn’t.
To a sane person, it would be unlikely that the prime minister shelves his own budget.
For Ismail Sabri personally, there is no urgency to call for an election this year. He can take it all the way to June next year – when Parliament will automatically dissolve.
This will take Ismail Sabri’s tenure as the ninth prime minister to 22 months – longer by five months than his predecessor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
While dissolving Parliament to pave the way for a general election is the sole prerogative of the prime minister, as a member and Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri is pressured to tow his party line – even if Umno only holds 38 seats in the 222-seat Parliament.
So perhaps this evening the king could offer a solution.
The Agong may advise that the flood season is not ideal – even dangerous – to hold a general election. The focus should be on assisting the rakyat who will be affected by the floods.
The constitution dictates that the king cannot withhold consent for a dissolution of Parliament as His Majesty acts on the advice of the prime minister.
But will Umno – led by president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – dare risk being labelled as insolent if it insists Ismail Sabri go against the advice and wishes of the king to defer the election?
The answer could be just hours away. – The Vibes, October 6, 2022
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