COMMENT BY YB PROF DR P.RAMASAMY, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER II, PENANG
There is a grave constitutional and political crises in the country. Since Umno with its 38 MPS have withdrawn support for the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, his position has become untenable.
He has no choice but to resign from his post or alternatively call for an emergency sitting of Parliament to prove his majority.
He does not have to wait for the special session of Parliament to begin on July 26 to August 2, 2021.
In an emergency session of Parliament, Muhyiddin can determine whether he has the support of the majority of the MPs.
Under the present circumstances, it would be an difficult task for Muhyiddin to prove his majority.
Well, if he has intention to call a special Parliament sitting, then he has to resign first.
Since the Umno Supreme Council has taken the decision to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, let Muhyiddin to resign first and later test his popularity in Parliament.
Appointing Sabari Ismail as his deputy does not automatically render support from the Umno MPs.
Even if Umno MPs are divided in their support of Muhyiddin, the fact remains that at least in a theoretical sense the 38 MPs are not in the camp of Muhyiddin anymore.
Muhyiddin must realise once and for all that he cannot remain in office knowing very well that he has lost support even before Umno made the decision very recently.
He cannot and should not use the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic to prolong his stay with an Emergency in force.
Even before Umno could take decision, it was the Emergency rule that had kept Muhyiddin in power. If the Emergency is ended on August 1, Muhyiddin has no grounds to hold on to power.
In other words, long before Umno took the decision to cut off support to Muhyiddin, the latter had no majority. Essentially, it was the Emergency and the priority given to stem the tide of the pandemic that kept him in power.
In this respect, as everybody knows, the Emergency was meant to shore up the PN government. Umno’s decision to withdraw support merely “ stripped naked” Muhyiddin of any pretension or the basis of continuing to hold power.
Anyway, what else is needed to drive home the point that Muhyiddin whether he is in hospital or not that he lost the support of the majority of MPs in the country.
It is a kind of poetic justice or sweet revenge for PH coalition that was unceremoniously ejected from power by a coup organised by Muhyiddin and others in the first few months last year.
The putsch termed as the “Sheraton Move” deprived the coalition that received the mandate of the people in the last general election.
If only Mahathir Mohammed had not resigned without any consultation, things might have been different with the possibility of Anwar Ibrahim as the prime minister of the country.
Whether PH can take advantage of the present political impasse is left to be seen. But if simple headcount is done, PH might have the majority, something that will send shivers down the spine of race and religious bigots.
The race and religious champions who were responsible for the installation of the PN government must be wondering as whatever happed to their “brilliant” political move.
If at all the PN government is brought to a halt in Malaysian politics, it will not signal not its collapse but the use of race and religion as the organisational principles of politics.
Muhyiddin is not a gentleman; he and Mahathir Mohammed would go down the country’s history as the worst prime ministers.
At least Mahathir resigned twice. Muhyiddin has to do it only once. He knows that his days in office are numbered. He not only seized power illegally but messed up the country with his sycophants around him.
How long can he go on without messing up the country further. Malaysians in general of all walks of life are fed up with politics, although politics channeled in a right progressive direction is not necessarily bad.
But not the politics of the PN government; politics of deception, dishonesty and irresponsibility. In short, politics of illegality.
It is high time that the country and its administration are vetted through a parliamentary process with a central role assigned to elected representatives.
Let Muhyiddin determine whether he has the majority or not in a special session of Parliament.
Let us have some sanity in politics.
