MP SPEAKS | PM must go through confidence vote in Parliament

MP SPEAKS | There is no justification whatsoever for a postponement of Parliament from September 6 to September 13 if the confidence vote on new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is not on the parliamentary agenda or order paper. It is clear that Parliament is postponed by one week to accommodate Ismail Sabri, who is under home quarantine for being in close contact with a Covid-19 positive patient.

DAP accepts that the new prime minister must be in Parliament when the vote of confidence is being deliberated and decided by Parliament, but if there is no such motion, what is the point or justification for the one-week postponement of Parliament? There is simply no alternative or compromise to having a confidence motion in Parliament, this must proceed.

Appointments of a new prime minister in the middle of a Parliament term as a result of a vacancy requires a vote of confidence to demonstrate that he enjoys majority support of MPs as set out by our Federal Constitution. For Ismail Sabri to not include the confidence motion in the Parliamentary agenda would be unconstitutional.

Further, on August 18, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had decreed that the new prime minister must undergo a confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat to show he has majority support. Any failure by Ismail Sabri to do so would be open defiance that can be construed as willful and recalcitrant disobedience to the decree, which would be an inauspicious start to his prime ministership.

Lest he forgets, his predecessor was seen in a similar light of open disobedience that evoked royal displeasure. DAP does not comprehend why Ismail Sabri does not want to table a vote of confidence motion when the king has announced that Ismail Sabri has won the support of 114 MPs and is in the midst of discussions with the opposition to focus on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, an economic crisis that has destroyed lives and livelihood and undertakes institutional reforms to protect our parliamentary democracy.

Unless of course, Ismail Sabri is not confident of full and undivided support from government MPs. DAP strongly reminds Ismail Sabri that any failure to table confidence motion and defy the king’s command would destroy his credibility and trustworthiness.

No prime minister would want to celebrate his first Merdeka under such a cloud that would again engender political instability. This would seriously hamper Ismail Sabri’s ability as prime minister to lead the country to fight Covid-19 and pull the economy out of recession, as well as risk his reliability to fulfil his promise to carry out institutional reforms such as the Anti-Hopping Law, outlawing defections of MPs for political gain.

LIM GUAN ENG is Bagan MP and DAP secretary-general.

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