ANOTHER exercise by the head of state interviewing MPs “should be avoided at all costs” as it will only result in further political instability – and very much a repeat of the problems that have plagued the nation since Feb 24 last year.

In an opinion piece sighted on online news portal The Vibes, former attorney-general Tommy Thomas reckoned that the country should learn the most fundamental error that occurred after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as prime minister on Feb 24 last year.

“Rather than allowing the floor of the Dewan Rakyat to decide the political future of the nation – as the people’s elected representatives expressed in GE14 (14th General Election) – the constitutional monarch in late February 2020 interviewed all MPs on their choice of a new prime minister to replace Dr Mahathir.

“That process did not produce a result: apparently the most votes that a candidate received were 92, well short of a requisite number,” he opined.

Thomas’ comment came following the resignation of a cabinet member yesterday (Aug 3) and the withdrawal of support of 11 UMNO MPs which he claimed has established the fact that Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin no longer has the backing of at least 111 lawmakers – a legal and political requirement for the prime minister to remain in office.

Thomas further claimed that when the present Prime Minister was chosen by the Agong on March 1, 2020, he did not command the confidence of the majority of MPs.

“From Mahiaddin’s appointment until today, he has never enjoyed majority support in Parliament – hence, his reluctance for Parliament to sit, and the speaker’s refusal to table and vote on a motion of no confidence against the sitting prime minister,” Thomas continued.

“It is a miracle that he has somehow survived in office for some 17 months – but at what cost to our people and the nation?”

In lieu of having the Agong interviewing MPs, Thomas suggested that the 220 living MPs must debate, deliberate, horse-trade, bargain, and finally, reach a majority decision of at least 111 of them for the country’s political future.

“Parliamentarians are our elected leaders, and they must be allowed to openly and freely decide on the floor and in the corridors of the Dewan Rakyat the government that they desire.

“If the outcome is a grand coalition of all political parties under an acceptable prime minister, so much the better.

“It is the paramount duty of the 220 MPs to stitch together a working government that can take us out of this crisis. Give them an opportunity to exercise that responsibility for the public good,” he wrote. – Aug 4, 2021

https://focusmalaysia.my/ex-ag-mps-must-stitch-together-to-get-country-out-of-crisis/