Don T Follow Dr M S Example Ismail Sabri Told

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MP SPEAKS | For the first time,  the Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s desperate hurry for the dissolution of Parliament for the holding of an immediate 15th general election seems to be close at hand and the possibility of Parliament being dissolved after Oct 7, after the 2023 Budget has been presented to the Dewan Rakyat, cannot be ruled out.
The example of Parliament being dissolved after the Budget was presented but before it was passed by both Houses of Parliament and given the Royal Assent had happened once before in 1999, but I had said that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should not be following this wrong and bad example, which tantamounts to the prime minister misusing his powers.
On  Friday, Oct 29, 1999, the 2000 Budget was presented to the Dewan Rakyat by the then finance minister Daim Zainuddin, but before the 2000 Budget was passed,  Parliament was dissolved while debating the 2000 Budget in mid-stream on Nov 10, 1999.
I remember the day of the dissolution of Parliament in 1999. It was a Tuesday and the sixth day of the debate on the 2000 Budget, but Members of Parliament were not interested in the 2000 Budget as words had gone around that Parliament was to be dissolved on that day.
I remember asking the then deputy speaker who was presiding before the Dewan Rakyat adjourned for lunch on Nov 10, 1999, whether Parliament would be dissolved that day. The deputy speaker, who is now the Yang di-Pertua of Sabah, said he did not know.

When Dewan Rakyat resumed after lunch at 2.30pm, the speaker of the House announced that he had been informed that Parliament had been dissolved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and the debate on the 2000 Budget ended abruptly for the holding of Malaysia’s 10th general election. The same budget for the year 2000 was presented after the 1999 general election.
The 1999 example of the dissolution of Parliament is a wrong and bad example, where the budget was presented to Parliament and Parliament was not allowed to debate and pass the budget but was dissolved for the holding of a general election.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri YaakobIt is a misuse of prime ministerial power, and if Ismail Sabri asks the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament after Oct 7, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong should advise the prime minister to let Parliament debate and pass the 2023 Budget - unless a no-confidence motion against the prime minister is adopted by the Dewan Rakyat.
Is  Zahid going to move a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Ismail Sabri?
Why is Zahid desperate for Parliament to be dissolved as fast as possible - is it to escape a jail sentence or is it in the interests of Umno and the country?
The jailing of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the corruption conviction of his wife, Rosmah Mansor, may bring about a sea-change in Malaysian politics.
Najib Abdul Razak and Rosmah MansorThe Umno leadership has positioned itself, not only as the defender of the mega and monstrous 1MDB scandal, but the party put itself in the forefront of forces subverting the original nation-building principles and policies which have guided the four first Umno presidents - Onn Jafaar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn - by attacking the doctrine of the separation of powers and the principles of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, good governance and respect for human rights.
Can Malaysia conduct a major reset and return to the original nation-building principles and policies as embedded in the Constitution and Rukun Negara?
Two recent events gave hope that Malaysia can achieve a major reset to return to the original nation-building policies - firstly, reference for the former lord president Salleh Abas by the judiciary, where Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said that the constitutional crisis of 1988 had shown that despite attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary, judges must be faithful to the Federal Constitution and be resolute in upholding the rule of law; and secondly, the recent comment of the former deputy prime minister, Musa Hitam, that he had never seen the country’s courts act so independently on political matters before.
One swallow does not make a summer.  Can there be more swallows? - Mkini
LIM KIT SIANG, a veteran of the DAP, is Iskandar Puteri MP.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT

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