The Malaysian Insight

DEWAN Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizah Harun today said he was “powerless” to allow a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“I must get an indication from a government minister (to allow such a motion),” said Azhar in response to V. Sivakumar (Batu Gajah-PH) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Azhar was explaining to MPs why he could not allow the Dewan Rakyat to debate motions of confidence in Muhyiddin, who is the Pagoh MP.

He said he was not bound to follow the precedents set by other speakers when asked why he could not follow Perak Speaker Zahir Abdul Khalid’s example in the state assembly last Friday.

Zahir, who is in Umno, had allowed a confidence motion for Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu to be tabled and debated in the state assembly.

Faizal lost the confidence vote by 10 to 48 with 1 abstention.

“If this is the case, we will have to wait till Judgement Day before a minister allows a confidence motion against the prime minister,” said Sivakumar, who pointed out the “obvious conflict of interest” facing such a minister.

Azhar said: “That is the procedure. How can I change it? It’s also by convention.

When Sim Tze Tsin (Bayan Baru-PH) repeated the point of conflict of interest, Azhar replied: “That’s not my problem. I cannot proceed based on assumptions.”

Judicial precedent

RSN Rayer (Jelutong-PH) started the argument when he asked Azhar why he would not allow debate on the 25 motions of confidence in the prime minister filed by MPs of various parties.

“Why can’t we follow Perak and prioritise the many confidence motions against Muhyiddin for debate in parliament?” said Rayer.

Azhar replied: “I don’t know how the Perak speaker allowed the motion or what power he has to push the motion to the top. But I’m not bound by the actions of other speakers, particularly those at the state assembly.

“I don’t know how he did it or about the state assembly’s standing orders.

“But I’m not stopping the confidence motions (against Muhyiddin) based on my own will. It is based on my research on the conventions practised in other Westminster systems such as the United Kingdom.”

He added that the power to decide did not lie with the speaker.

“I don’t understand why MPs, academics and lawyers, even a former attorney-general say that I have the power. I have no power,” said Azhar.

He added that confidence in the prime minister did not have to be determined by parliament, as shown in the Federal Court ruling in Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin vs Zambry Abdul Kadir in 2010.

Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister on March 1 after the king met with the party chiefs and was satisfied that the former had the majority support of the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.

Support for the Bersatu president has never been tested in parliament through a confidence motion.

Azhar replaced former Court of Appeal judge Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof as speaker after Perikatan Nasional took power in February.

Prior to this, Azhar was the Election Commission chairman, a lawyer and human rights activist.

Following Azhar’s appointment to speaker, his brother and former Federal Court judge Idrus Harun was appointed attorney-general. – December 8, 2020.