If the King had proclaimed Emergency when Prime Minister Muhyiddin still enjoyed majority support amongst the Members of Parliament, then there will be not much of concern - if Muhyiddin and his Cabinet continues to be in power during the period of emergency.
12/1/2020 - this was the date of the Emergency Proclamation of the King, signed also by the Muhyiddin as Prime Minister.
But, on 9/1/2020 - Muhyiddin had already lost the support of the majority
Ahmad Jazlan's declaration effectively leaves the Perikatan Nasional government with the support of 110 MPs out of the 220 lawmakers currently in the Dewan Rakyat.
Muhyiddin needed 111 MPs to maintain majority confidence - 110 was just not enough.
Then on 12/1/2021 - he lost another MP's support making him having only the support of 109 MPs -
Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today announced his withdrawal of support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's government...In a press conference this afternoon, the Padang Rengas MP said with his withdrawal of support, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is now left with 109 MPs on its bloc out of 220 MPs.
When a sitting Prime Minister loses the confidence of the majority, then has no choice but to RESIGN - and Muhyiddin lost that on 9/1/2020.
Art. 43(4)
(4) If the
Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the
members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the
Yang di-pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the Prime Minister shall
tender the resignation of the Cabinet.
What happens when the PM loses support of majority, he informs the King, and then there are 2 possibilities
1 - King dissolves Parliament and we have a new General Elections
2 - PM and Cabinet resigns, and King appoints another MP, who enjoys the confidence of the majority to be Prime Minister.
But, this time, a 3rd option seem to have been taken by the King - the Proclamation of Emergency...
Questions arise - did Muhyiddin inform the King that he had lost the confidence of the majority on 9/1/2020 - 110 was no longer the MAJORITY - he needs the support of 111 at least when the current total of MPs stand at 220.
The power in terms of appointing a new Prime Minister lies with the KING, during Emergency or otherwise.
After Mahathir resigned, the King appointed him 'interim Prime Minister' until a NEW Prime Minister was identified and appointed...
BUT, in this case, Muhyiddin seems to have lost his legitimacy on 9/1/2021, and ought to have RESIGNED - and, of course, the KING has the power to then appoint him interim Prime Minister - did this happen? It seems 'No'
IS THAT A PROBLEM? Yes, it is ..., in my opinion.
Reasonably, the King should choose and appoint someone as the interim Prime Minister, if none has the requisite majority support
Should it be Muhyiddin Yassin? Best maybe if some other is appointed as interim 'Emergency' Prime Minister, who then forms a Cabinet made up of the best MPs from all the different parties...
Of course, if some other MP can show that he/she has majority support, then he/she be appointed the Prime Minister...
Or did the Emergency Ordinance that came into being 'secured' Muhyiddin and his Cabinet until the Emergency ends? They cannot be removed until the end of Emergency - be it in August or even later?
Can such an Ordinance ignore the Constitution provided per-requisite for someone being able to remain Prime Minister?
Can such an Ordinance 'remove' the capacity and power of the King to appoint a NEW Prime Minister?
REMEMBER the Prime Minister is VERY IMPORTANT as it is his/her advice that determines what the King does or does not do - especially when it comes to passing of 'new laws' during this Emergency period...
Well, we may discuss this in some future post...
Nazri Aziz withdraws support for Muhyiddin's government
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today announced his withdrawal of support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's government.
In a press conference this afternoon, the Padang Rengas MP said with his withdrawal of support, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is now left with 109 MPs on its bloc out of 220 MPs.
According to him, this would mean that the PN government did not have a majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.
Although the Dewan Rakyat comprises 222 seats, it is now down to 220 following the deaths of Batu Sapi MP Datuk Liew Vui Keong and Gerik MP Datuk Hasbullah Osman last year.
"I, Nazri Aziz of Umno and Barisan Nasional, Padang Rengas MP and Umno Padang Rengas division leader, officially retract my support for Muhyiddin's current government.
"I've given it a lot of thought before coming to this decision and this is the best decision I can make for my party.
"With my withdrawal of support, this means that today's government is only left with 109 seats after Jazlan and Tengku Razaleigh's withdrawal of support," he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here, today.
Nazri was referring to an announcement on Jan 9 by BN's Machang MP Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakob, who withdrew his support for PN.
Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah meanwhile had abstained from voting during the tabling of the 2021 Budget in Dewan Rakyat late last year.
Although Nazri claimed the government now only has 109 seats, Tengku Razaleigh never made an official announcement saying he no longer supported Muhyiddin and PN.
Nazri also claimed the Umno Supreme Council had accepted a motion to sever ties with the Muhyiddin-led Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), adding that he had received a mandate from the party to make today's announcement.
He added the reason he decided to make his announcement today was because the Umno General Assembly, scheduled for the end of this month, would not happen as the country was now under a State of Emergency.
"So this motion to sever ties is the party's stance, just that we don't get to formalise it during the assembly this Jan 31. In fact, I expect two or three more (Umno) MPs will follow suit."
Nazri had also labelled the declaration of a state of emergency as a "political emergency", stating that the Covid-19 pandemic could be dealt with the various movement control orders. _ New Straits Times, 12/1/2020
PN govt left with 110 MPs after Machang MP withdraws support
Umno's Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub has announced his decision to withdraw support from the Perikatan Nasional government.
"I hereby announce my decision to withdraw my support for the Perikatan Nasional government which is led by Muhyiddin Yassin," he said at a press conference in Kota Bharu, Kelantan today.
Ahmad
Jazlan's declaration effectively leaves the Perikatan Nasional
government with the support of 110 MPs out of the 220 lawmakers
currently in the Dewan Rakyat.
Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has voiced opposition to Muhyiddin too but has thus far abstained from voting against the government in Parliament.
However, while there are 110 MPs opposed to PN, the opposition is currently divided.
The main opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan has only 91 MPs as 17 other non-Umno lawmakers are not aligned with them.
The Kelantan Umno chief said he had yet to inform Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi about his decision but will do so.
However, he also opined there was no need to communicate his decision to the Umno supreme council.
“To me, I don’t need to get agreement from the supreme council members.
“Back when BN MPs supported the formation of the new PN government, this was before PN even existed, we never sought the agreement of the supreme council when we made our decision. The decision was simply endorsed by the party afterwards [...]
“But I will inform the Umno president and BN chairperson (Zahid) about this,” he said.
Contacted by Malaysiakini, he said he did not know whether any other Umno lawmakers will also be withdrawing their support for PN.
“This is my decision and I was not influenced by anyone. I don’t know about other MPs,” he replied.
‘Do not bully Umno’
Ahmad Jazlan opined today that his decision would not cause PN to lose its razor-thin majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
“What we are doing is to merely give (the government) a wake-up call to prioritise the rakyat.
“Do not torture Umno, do not bully Umno,” he added.
During the press conference, he explained that he was dissatisfied that PN continued to allow 1MDB-linked civil forfeiture suits against Umno divisions to continue.
“It is as if the Bersatu-led government has a certain agenda to restrict Umno's activities because these financial circumstances have caused some party activities to be stopped,” he said.
Other reasons included what he perceived as the government’s failure to fully fulfil Umno’s two Budget 2021 demands - for the loan moratorium to be extended and to allow all Employees Provident Fund contributors to withdraw lump sums from their retirement savings.
Quitting MPOB a 'signal'
Ahmad Jazlan's decision comes five days after he quit as chairperson for the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).
At today’s press conference, he admitted that his resignation from the board had been a “signal” of his change of heart towards PN.
“My recent resignation as MPOB chairperson was a signal. It indeed was a signal. I was just waiting for (the right) time,” he said.
The MP had previously pressured PN to dissolve Parliament at the end of January to pave the way for a snap general election.
Several Umno figures have also been calling for an imminent GE15, most notably party secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.
It was previously alleged that Zahid had offered in a letter his personal support for Pakatan Harapan chief Anwar Ibrahim to topple PN but allegedly without first informing the party about such support.
Officially, Umno has denied the existence of such a letter. Umno’s stance is to not collaborate with Anwar or Harapan component party DAP.
Additional reporting by Annabelle Lee.
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