The Pakatan Harapan conundrum
We all knew the no-confidence motion wouldn’t go through, and we even knew it wouldn’t pass.
Hafidz Baharom, The Malaysian Insider
This started off with DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, on September 26, saying that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had in fact “locked up” the support of his party’s warlords to the point of making the exercise futile.
Similarly, PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli also said that there was an internal split within his own party between those who want Najib out and those who wish for the PM to stay where he is for the political benefit of the next general election which must take place by 2018.
Meanwhile, all the opposition parties, and PAS itself, have no confidence in the no-confidence motion to oust Najib, especially with the largest Islamic party in the country still sore with the fledgling Parti Amanah Negara, which was recently set up by its dissenters.
So, why was there an uproar when Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin said today that the motion of no-confidence would not be tabled during the current sitting in Parliament?
After all, weren’t the opposition lawmakers also so keen to undo Najib that even if the no-confidence motion was rejected, they could just vote down his budget? This idea, was brought forward by the Demi Malaysia movement.
But of course, it would mean that the Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers would have to disobey their whip, and only one of them has actually done this so far to the point of resigning his post as the BN Backbencher Club president at the time.
Since then, even when lawmakers raised objections against the bills brought up in the Dewan Rakyat, they have continually voted to pass such laws.
One such case took place during Pak Lah’s time, in which objections were raised against the Islamic Family Law bill in 2006.
While women lawmakers raised their objections in the Dewan Rakyat then, they still voted it through.
With all this in mind – the DAP saying no crossovers from BN, PKR split between themselves and even PAS not committing to anything – why still have a no-confidence vote put forward?
It is clear that the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan would have had no chance of winning the vote, particularly as mentioned above in their own words? So why?
Because they have run out of things to say, basically.
