2 v 25, who will be the winner?

 

Two MPs moot confidence motion for Muhyiddin Yassin, 25 against

There are motions of confidence from two government MPs in support of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in the Dewan Rakyat.

Meanwhile, 25 opposition lawmakers have filed motions against the prime minister, according to a draft of the order paper for the Nov 2 sitting of Parliament.

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil explained that this was subject to change.

“Parliament will send a copy of all the questions and motions we submitted (to the MPs).

The two motions of confidence supporting Muhyiddin are from Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) and Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (PAS-Pasir Puteh).

The motions of no-confidence were filed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Ind-Langkawi) and four lawmakers aligned to him, seven MPs from Warisan, Amanah (11), PKR (1), and DAP (1).

Amanah’s Khalid Samad (Shah Alam) and Hanipa Maidin (Sepang) each had two motions of no-confidence to their name in the draft.

Amiruddin Hamzah

The first motion of no confidence, according to the current order, is from Mahathir’s ally Amiruddin Hamzah (Ind-Kubang Pasu) at number 18, followed by Zawawi’s confidence motion.

At present, it is unlikely that the House will debate any of these motions.

Under the Standing Orders, government business is given priority to be debated in the House first – meaning bills for new laws and amendments from the administration go first.

In the current draft, the Lower House is set to first debate amendments to the Cooperatives Act, followed by a bill to form an Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC), and amendments to the Poisons Act.

A bill to debate and pass Budget 2021 is expected to be added later, and Putrajaya may add or withdraw other bills as well.

The Budget debate is scheduled to take place from Nov 9 to Dec 10.

There were reportedly plans to vote down the supply bill as an alternative to a no-confidence motion.

Muhyiddin’s critics claim that this was why he sought an emergency declaration.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong rejected the call for an emergency, and he also advised the MPs to support Budget 2021 and to ensure it passed without hindrance.

Prior to the episode surrounding the move for an emergency, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had written to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, pushing for the no-confidence motion to be debated.

The speaker, in a letter responding to Tengku Razaleigh, argued that any non-government business could only leap over government business if it receives the backing from a minister.

However, according to a video of Azhar that has now gone viral on social media, he had, in 2015, argued that by parliamentary convention, a motion of no confidence must be heard first, even though there is no legal provision for this.

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