KUALA LUMPUR: The Perikatan Nasional constitution does not stipulate that its chairman must be chosen from among the presidents of its component parties, says Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
The Perikatan deputy secretary-general said the coalition’s constitution only requires that the chairman be agreed upon and appointed by the coalition's supreme council.
“There is nothing in the Perikatan constitution that says the chairman must come from among the presidents of component parties.
“The chairman can be anyone agreed to and appointed by the supreme council,” he told reporters on Monday (Jan 26).
As such, PAS is of the view that any individual proposed and nominated by the party would be qualified for the post, he said.
“Whoever is proposed and nominated by PAS is qualified. It does not necessarily have to be the PAS president,” he added.
Takiyuddin was responding to recent remarks by outgoing Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said a new chairman should be selected from the presidents of the coalition’s component parties, following his resignation from the post.
Takiyuddin said that when Perikatan was first formed, all parties had agreed for Bersatu to lead the coalition, and unanimously supported Muhyiddin’s appointment as chairman.
“Now, if all parties unanimously agree for PAS to lead Perikatan, then PAS will lead,” he said.
He added that following Muhyiddin’s resignation, PAS had offered itself to assume the chairmanship and would be submitting its own candidate.
“The only thing I can state here is that the candidate is not the PAS president. Who the candidate is will be announced by the PAS president,” he said.
Takiyuddin also announced that Perikatan would hold an emergency supreme council meeting on Jan 29 at Gerakan headquarters in Cheras at 8.30pm.
He said the meeting will have three agenda items: First, to appoint a meeting chairman from among Perikatan’s deputy chairmen; second, to approve Muhyiddin’s resignation in accordance with the coalition’s constitution; and third, upon approval, to appoint a new Perikatan chairman.
“I invite all supreme council members to attend this emergency meeting. There are 16 supreme council members in total, including myself,” he said.
However, Takiyuddin, who is also PAS secretary-general, said invitations were not extended to individuals who had already resigned.
“When Muhyiddin’s resignation took effect on Jan 1, he became functus officio.
“Therefore, I took the view that he should not be invited to the meeting,” he said, adding that Bersatu’s representative at the meeting would be the party’s deputy president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, who is also one of Perikatan’s deputy chairmen.
Separately, Takiyuddin said Perikatan was proposing amendments to its constitution relating to the scope and jurisdiction of the president’s council.
He said the proposed amendments would need to be submitted to and approved by the Registrar of Societies (ROS), a process that would take some time.
