Ku Li: Speaker holds the key to no confidence vote

PUTRAJAYA: The Speaker of the House may pose a challenge to the raising of a vote of no confidence in Parliament, says Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (pic).

Tengku Razaleigh was part of a group of Barisan Nasional leaders headed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad who came together on Monday to voice out against the prosecution of former Batu Kawan Umno vice-chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer, Matthias Chang.

While Dr Mahathir supported a vote of no confidence against his successor, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Tengku Razaleigh said that the Speaker of the House may be a stumbling block to such an effort.

“There are a few problems (to the raising of the no confidence vote). The first is that while Members of Parliament have the right to bring a motion of no-confidence against the ruling government, the Speaker of the House also has the right to reject motions because it is not included in the Parliamentary Standing Orders used by the Dewan Rakyat,” said the Gua Musang MP.

Tengku Razaleigh was responding to a question on what he as a parliamentarian intends to do about the vote of no confidence.

"So if, from the beginning, previous efforts to put forward such a motion was not approved by the Speaker, renewed attempts to bring forward such a motion would also be unsuccessful," he said.

"However, there are others way to do it (remove Najib) if we believe that this is something very urgent that must be done for public good," he added.

“We’ll discuss that in a different forum,” he said when queried on what the alternative method was.

Although the Barisan leaders were known for having contrasting views among one another in the past, Dr Mahathir nevertheless speak alongside Razaleigh, Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal,  former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Sanusi Junid and former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat against what they claim is the Government’s abuse of power.

Both Khairuddin and Chang were detained under Section 124 Sosma over offences deemed detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

The press conference was held while Khairuddin and Chang were being charged at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate’s court with attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial systems.

Khairuddin was arrested after making several reports overseas, including in Singapore, Switzerland, France and Hong Kong against 1MDB.

Sosma was initially introduced to combat terrorist threats in Malaysia, and the Government had assured that the act would not be used against political opponents.

Muhyiddin, Razaleigh and Dr Mahathir have all stood up as critics of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Muhyiddin’s opposing views on the state investment fund was what caused him to be dropped in the July 28 Cabinet reshuffle alongside Shafie.