Andikar Amin Mulia, the Speaker of the Malaysian Parliament, has asserted that no federal minister, or even the prime minister himself, has the authority to allow or reject a motion for a vote of no confidence against the PM in Parliament, other than himself.
His statement is likely in response to increasingly loud calls for a no-confidence vote by members of the Federal Opposition (and former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad), and equally loud declarations from MPs from the Barisan Nasional coalition that such a move would not be possible in the Malaysian system.
However, Pandikar stated that to date, he has not yet received any notice for such a motion in Parliament, and would only address the matter should it actually arise.
“Have you heard anything about Parliament being in session? None, isn’t it? So I will cross the bridge when I come to it,” he said today, as quoted by Mayuri Mei Lin of The Malay Mail Online.
“No minister can reject anything. The one with the authority when it comes to motions is the Speaker. Not even the prime minister, this must be understood.”
Calls have been made to table a vote of no confidence against Najib, as pressure mounts on the PM following the ongoing 1MDB scandal and the matter of the RM2.6 billion transfer into Najib’s personal bank accounts in 2013, two months before the 13th General Elections.
Opposition MPs have floated the idea of a “unity government” comprised of both BN and (formerly) Pakatan Rakyat representatives, to take the place of the Najib administration should it be removed through a parliamentary vote.
MPs from Barisan, such as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman, have termed such a move as not being part of the Malaysian parliamentary system, as Najib in his capacity as BN and UMNO president has the support of the majority of parliamenterians by default.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier conceded the constitutionality of a vote of no confidence to remove the PM, but warned that any group attempting to do so would have to cross “the dead bodies of UMNO members first”.
