Mahathir: Prime Minister without majority must resign
The people who can do something about the Prime Minister have shamelessly admitted receiving money from him by the millions.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, taking to his blog in his latest posting, warned that the Speaker was ignoring the Federal Constitution if he takes it upon himself not to allow a no confidence motion to be tabled in Parliament against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
“The people who can do something about the Prime Minister are totally without shame. They have openly admitted receiving money from him by the millions. This is corruption at its worst and something that shames the country in the eyes of the world.”
Again, if Parliamentary standing orders are silent on such a provision, it does not mean that Speaker Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia can take it upon himself to interpret them in such a way as to give himself the power to deny the tabling of a no confidence motion by rejecting the right of MPs to do so.
“A vote of no confidence is totally democratic. Parliament may not have any provision for it but the Federal Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land, clearly states that if the Prime Minister no longer commands the support of the majority of MPs, he should resign,” said Mahathir.
Article 43(4) of the Federal Constitution states, he added, that “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”.
The former Prime Minister was commenting on a report he read that the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat will not allow a motion of no confidence to be tabled in the Dewan by anyone. “He insists that only he can decide whether such a motion can be put before the house or not,” noted Mahathir. “The reason he says is that Parliamentary standing orders are silent on this matter.”
“Also, his excuse is that it has never been done before.”
