The Malaysian Insight

YOUTH leaders have urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to table his motion of confidence in Parliament as soon as possible, instead of delaying it until next month, because the country urgently needs a legitimate government.

They said the current politicking is selfish, especially during a time when Malaysians are losing their jobs and lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They want the government to sort its leadership issues out now so that the country can move on, while the powers that be tackle the main issues at hand.

Mohd Asraf Sharafi Mohd Azhar – a representative from Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat (SSR), the organisation behind the #Lawan protests – said if Muhyiddin is confident he has a majority then he should prove it in Parliament immediately.

“That is the best option because it re-establishes Parliament as a legitimate platform to determine the direction of the country’s leadership,” he said.

However, he said, SSR still considers him unfit to be prime minister and wants him to resign immediately.

Calling for Muhyiddin’s resignation was one of the main themes of last Saturday’s #Lawan protest.

Asraf said the constant political instability must end, to stop eroding the people’s trust in the political and parliamentary system.

“We also hope there will be no more more party-hopping as it will only continue to diminish the public’s trust towards the system,” he said.

Muhyiddin announced yesterday he would table a motion of confidence when Parliament resumes next month to clear all doubts about his leadership, after meeting with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah yesterday morning, when he informed the king he still held the majority in Parliament.

Vice president and co-founder of youth movement Muda, Dr Thanussha Francis Xavier, was more biting in her comments when she said the only rationale to Muhyiddin wanting to test his majority in September, and not now, was so that he would have time to buy or threaten MPs to join him.

“The vote of confidence must be tabled as soon as possible,” she said, adding that, while power play has been the theme of the country’s politics for decades, it is exceptionally heartless and cruel for politicking to take priority when Malaysians are losing lives, livelihoods and robbed of a future.

She said the slow rollout of vaccines in opposition states, as well as the health ministry withholding crucial Covid-19 information are examples of this.

“The Perikatan Nasional administration must admit failure and resign instead of doing anything and everything to remain in power, including investigating youth activists and elected representatives,” she said.

In recent weeks, Muhyiddin and his cabinet have faced mounting pressure to quit over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and for revoking the emergency ordinances without the Agong’s consent.

After a royal rebuke on July 29, Muhyiddin announced that the ordinance would be tabled in September, which also received flak from opposition lawmakers.

Qyira Yusri, co-founder of Undi18, said politicians need to stop using the backdoor and shady ways (such as signing statutory declarations) to indicate support and confidence in the prime minister.

“Our democracy must be respected,” she said.

She said the vote of confidence should happen this week.

“Parliament should be considered essential services and reopened after sanitisation, MPs to go in and vote,” she said.

Qyira said it is not much of a power clash, rather it is a fight for justice and a battle to restore Parliament as a stable and reliable institution in the country.

“I believe the PM should resign as he has clearly lost the authority with the withdrawal of Umno’s support. If he wants to secure his position, it has to be done through Parliament and nowhere else,” she said.

She said that the situation at hand is no longer a petty issue of who wants to be PM anymore.

“This is a matter of life and death for the rakyat as we struggle to stay alive in a country ruled by selfish elites,” Qyira added. – August 5, 2021.