Anwar claims majority of MPs do not support Perikatan

PETALING JAYA: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claims that the majority of MPs do not support Perikatan Nasional, and with this, the government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has effectively fallen.

“I have information about a list of MPs who have requested to withdraw from the Perikatan government.

“With the 107 MPs here today, and along with them (MPs who no longer support them), the government has been toppled,” he claimed in a speech at Dataran Merdeka before leading a group of Opposition MPs on a march towards Parliament yesterday.

Anwar claimed that the MPs withdrew their support after the royal rebuke over the revocation of the Emergency Ordinance.

He said the insult towards the royal institution by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet had never happened before.

Anwar had made a similar claim in September last year when he said he had a “strong, formidable, and convincing” majority to form the new government.

There are 220 MPs currently in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat following the deaths of Batu Sapi MP Datuk Liew Vui Keong and Gerik MP Datuk Hasbullah Osman. Pakatan Harapan consists of PKR’s 35 MPs, DAP’s 42 and Amanah’s 11.

Other Opposition parties include Parti Warisan Sabah with eight MPs, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (four), the unregistered Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (one), Parti Sarawak Bersatu (one) and former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik, an independent MP.

Barisan Nasional has 42 MPs, consisting of 38 from Umno, two from MCA, and one each from MIC and PBRS.

Meanwhile, Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said Anwar must be able to prove his claims to the public.

“If Anwar claims he has the majority, then the burden of proof is on him to show he has the support and not us, that’s all,” he said, adding that the Perikatan government has enough MPs backing the coalition.

“The government still stands,” said Nazri.