King Decides Who Has Majority Not You Pm Told

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Umno veteran Shahrir Samad said Muhyiddin Yassin should not make conditional offers as an inducement for him to stay as prime minister. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: Muhyiddin Yassin has been slammed for making his own assumption that no other leader commands parliamentary majority support, with the prime minister being told that the matter should be decided by the King, not him.
Umno veteran Shahrir Samad said it was the Yang di-Pertuan Agong who had the say on who commands the majority support of MPs, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Noting that Muhyiddin essentially admitted to losing his majority support, Shahrir said Article 43 of the Constitution clearly stated that the prime minister has to either resign or advise the King to dissolve Parliament.
“It’s not a constitutional crisis, but he’s stretching the Constitution too far. It’s like he added another provision in Article 43, that he remains prime minister because no other person has the majority. That is not in the Constitution.
“The main thing is that he has lost his majority and should act according to the Constitution. Instead, he’s making conditional offers as an inducement for him to stay as prime minister since no one has the majority, which is an assumption.
“You had all the time to make all these offers. Why now? Is it just to protect your position, to be prime minister for one more year? It’s just about self-interest,” Shahrir told FMT.
The Johor Bahru MP also said Muhyiddin was still very much “attached” to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as he was in the first place appointed based on the King’s belief that he was likely to command the majority support of MPs.
“He cannot avoid that. He has to take responsibility for the loss of support,” he added.
Political analyst Jeniri Amir said Muhyiddin’s bipartisan deal was the best offer made to the opposition ever, although he felt that it was “too little too late” and should have been done a long time ago.
He told FMT it was unlikely for the opposition to take up Muhyiddin’s offer since it was made simply to salvage the prime minister’s position.
“If Anwar Ibrahim takes the offer (of a senior minister status as the opposition leader), it will be dangerous. The people will think he is more interested in posts and positions.
“I would like to stress this is a very good offer, but it should have been done a long time ago knowing the fact that the opposition leader plays an important role in checks and balances.”
Former academic Azmi Hassan said Muhyiddin’s bipartisan offer was not right as it was meant to entice MPs and save himself, predicting that opposition MPs would turn down the offer.
He said Muhyiddin looked desperate by claiming that no MP in the Dewan Rakyat had the majority support of other MPs, which in itself was an admission of having lost his support.
“According to the Federal Constitution, when the prime minister has no majority, it’s obvious what needs to be done.
“I think our politicians on both sides of the divide are mature enough to make the right decisions according to the needs of the Federal Constitution,” he told FMT. - FMT

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