Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has dismissed Mohd Shafie Apdal’s notice for a motion to show Dr Mahathir Mohamad has the support of a majority of MPs.
Ariff has confirmed today he rejected Shafie’s plan to table a motion of confidence that Dr Mahathir commands the majority of the Lower House.
In his response to the Sabah lawmaker, Ariff said that the motion is against the Federal Constitution, therefore cannot be allowed to be brought to the meeting.
“I have studied the motion proposed by his honourable Datuk Seri Panglima as well as his explanation,” he wrote in the letter, referring to Shafie.
“Based on the explanation in the motion, I found that it is not in line with Article 43 of the Federal Constitution because it questions the power to appoint the prime minister by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“Therefore, I cannot allow your motion to be brought into the Meeting,” Mohamad Ariff added.
Article 43 of the Constitution states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint a Cabinet of ministers to advise him in the exercise of his functions.
Based on a letter dated May 1, the Semporna MP had notified the Speaker of his intention to table the motion in order to demonstrate that the former prime minister still commanded majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.
Shafie, who is also the chief minister of Sabah, asserted in the same letter that his motion in no way diminished the constitutional authority of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to appoint a prime minister from among the country’s federal lawmakers.
In a separate letter, Dr Mahathir had informed the Speaker of his intention to call for a motion of no confidence against Muhyiddin.
Sources said Dr Mahathir’s letter to Ariff was dated May 4, fulfilling the 14-day criteria before the May 18 Parliament sitting.
MPs who want to bring motions to the Dewan Rakyat must do so 14 days before the session begins.
With his motion, Dr Mahathir, who is Langkawi MP, aims to show that Muhyiddin does not enjoy the support of the majority of MPs to be prime minister.
The speaker can similarly reject Dr Mahathir’s notice for the motion just as he had rejected Shafie’s.
Parliament will convene for the first time this year on May 18. However, the government has truncated the meeting that was already delayed from its original date in March to just a single day, citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason.