The first sitting of the 15th term of Parliamentary proceedings has exposed there is no change in the MPs' behaviour in the August house.
The shouting match continues. The wild animal instinct of MPs was as boring of those as before. Only 3 MPs stood out, Dato Johari talked about the dangers facing the country with facts and data. The lady MP from Sarawak spoke well without interruption. Rafizi explained well the relevant issues facing the nation to stop the unnecessary description or interpretation of government, it is not the name but the functions that MPs are elected for. Dr Zulkifli explained well the irrelevance of the Statutory Declarations (SDs). There is no such thing as SDs in a democratic system of government. His Majesty, the Agong, must have been ill-advised in the nature of the SDs. It's not a transparent practice that is subject to abuse, corruption and promises of benefits which all are done in secrecy. The main area of the prerogative of the Agong when the Dewan Rakyat is without a leader to lead the government, the Agong's responsibility is to appoint an elected leader of a party or a coalition of political parties who, in the reasonable assumption of His Majesty would command the majority of the MPs in the Dewan. Thus a vote of confidence is the ultimate test of the appointed standing of the appointed leader. Never an SD poll and definitely never the SD poll winner made the so-called PM. The 8th PM, Mahiadin Yasin was forever hiding behind the Agong. The Agong's responsibility was to call for a special sitting of the Dewan to endorse His Majesty's appointment of the PM. The lockdown as acted by the SD poll PM was illogical and an abuse of power by a PM especially since he was not endorsed by the Dewan Rakyat.
Back to the present, in the GE15 the rakyat did not vote for any party or a coalition of parties to win a simple majority of 112 of 222 seats in the Dewan. Pakatan Harapan gained the most number of seats at 82 followed by Perikatan National with 74.
His Majesty the Agong, in his capacity as the ultimate leader of the country, the Constitutional Monarchy, saw it fit to intervene in order to give political stability to the country. He proposed a Unity Government with all political parties and coalitions, agreeing to form this Unity Government. Mahiadin Yasin and Hadi Awang representing the PN conclusively refused to participate in such the government. Next, Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of PH that won the most seats, was called to consider the proposal of the Unity Government. Anwar agreed to the proposal as did the Barisan National (BN) who was called the next day. The GPS of Sarawak left it to the Agong to decide. A majority was formed and a government was in place but the title of the Unity Government stayed. It is and never was a Unity Government as such a government does not have an opposition. It is a coalition of coalitions government not and never a Unity Government. The Agong consulted the Malay Rulers for endorsement before Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia. Soon Warisan and GRS of Sabah joined the government. To appease the parties in this Coalition Government, PM Anwar must appoint members of all participating political parties to his Cabinet. I must applaud the DAP who told Anwar that their party was the problem to the formation of the government, they were willing not to be included in the cabinet. But Anwar would not have any of it and included DAP in the cabinet. Anwar appointed 2 deputy PMs, one from BN and another from GPS.
But this government was appointed by the Agong. Clearly, this is the Ruler's mandated government. Thus I do not see any necessity for the appointed PM, Anwar Ibrahim, to test his popularity in the House. To my mind, it is more of an ego trip. Would any MP defy the decree of the Agong? So too, the Memorandum of Understanding among the participating parties was unnecessary and the threat of expulsion of the opposing MPs among the government coalition was evil. The Anti-hopping Act has been passed. But to threaten any government MP who opposes any government proposal is not an act of a democratic system.
The issue of confidence should never have been debated. The Speaker, Johari Abdul, did not have in him to hold such a position. He is not a lawyer. He was never in charge in the debate or more appropriately the shouting match. Johari lost it. The gentleman in him should offer to resign. Speaker Azhar was more the government defense counsel. Compare them to Tan Sri Arif Yusof, the Speaker during the Pakatan Harapan government in 2018. Tan Sri Arif fits the role most urgently.
As for now, let us hope and pray the MPs behave themselves as their priority must be to mend this sick country to be up there where we belong. The check and balance is the work of the opposition, not shouting down another MP or government minister from doing their respective duties.
Wan Ismail Annuar is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
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