The Malaysian Insight

PRIME Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was flayed by opposition lawmakers, after admitting the revocation of the Emergency Ordinance was not properly handled, with some calling for the whole cabinet to resign, while others said the government was hopeless and untrustworthy.

Muhyiddin said, in a statement earlier today, that the process to cancel the ordinances as intended by the cabinet could not proceed without the assent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

However, he said the ordinances will be tabled in the Parliament sitting scheduled for September.

Numerous lawmakers responded to Muhyiddin’s statement, before Umno announced this evening that the party was formally withdrawing support for the prime minister and his ruling Perikatan Nasional government.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Muhyiddin’s position as prime minister has lost its legitimacy and he should resign.

Earlier, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said the prime minister and his whole cabinet must resign for misleading the Dewan Rakyat, and insulting the federal constitution and the monarchy.

“The prime minister admitted that he and his cabinet have made a mistake,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“The prime minister, law minister, and the cabinet of ministers have started a constitutional crisis,” he said.

Aside from calling for the cabinet to resign, the former PKR Johor chief said Attorney-General Idrus Harun, who also serves as the government’s legal adviser, must follow suit as he failed to give the correct advice on the constitution to the prime minister, cabinet and the king.

Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad said the government seems confused and it is not surprising that the country has been in such a poor state since the Muhyiddin government came to power.

“Clueless and hopeless,” the Amanah man said.

PKR’s communication director Ahmad Fahmi Fadzil said the government cannot be trusted.

“I don’t know if we can trust the words of this government anymore. Yesterday, we were supposed to have a session, the final session of the special briefing and it was closed for such a flimsy reason,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“I honestly don’t know if we can believe anything this government says anymore because, for example, they said Takiyuddin was going to answer on Monday, that he was not going to run away, but he ended up in hospital,” he said, referring to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Takiyuddin Hassan, who was admitted in hospital for a heart ailment.

The five-day special sitting of Parliament, which was supposed to last until August 2, was adjourned after 11 Covid-19 cases were detected in the building.

Fahmi said the fundamental issue with the current government is the trust deficit.

“They shut parliament when MPs tried to go. Some of us were just going to get our things because we were not informed that it was going to be closed,” he said.

“The trust deficit is so severe I think Muhyiddin missed the boat,” the Lembah Pantai MP added.

Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming said the ordinances should have been debated in the special sitting instead of pushing it to September.

“It is obvious that the PM is trying to repair its bad relationship with the palace as a result of what transpired during the special sitting.

The DAP assistant political education director said the issue is serious and it needs to be addressed as soon as Parliament convenes in September.

He added that Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun should not “dilly dally” on this issue and address it immediately, as a number of motions were filed on this matter.

Fahmi added that the matter should have been brought to the House last Monday.

“The practical implication of delaying until September, you will get cases of people who have been made to pay exorbitant fines until September,” he said.

Fahmi said this feels like a ploy by the government to buy time, which is completely insensitive.

He also questioned how many more people in the B40 category will be fined exorbitant amounts as per the laws under the ordinances and how many would lose their income for the week because of this arbitrary and punitive act.

“I think Muhyiddin should reconsider, but he has no other choice because he has given instruction to shut Parliament and postpone the sitting,” he said.

“Right now, even if he said September, we don’t know. We haven’t received any formal notice. I don’t know how good his word is anymore,” Fahmi said.

Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azalina Othman Said mocked the government in a brief tweet in reaction to the PM’s statement that “A day late and a dollar short !!!” – August 3, 2021.