CLASH OF TITANS - 7 BY-ELECTIONS ON THE CARDS - DON'T DREAM OR POLITICAL REALITY? - MUHYIDDIN CATCHES ANWAR BUT IT'S ALL UP TO THE SPEAKER
CLASH OF TITANS - 7 BY-ELECTIONS ON THE CARDS - DON'T DREAM OR POLITICAL REALITY? - MUHYIDDIN CATCHES ANWAR BUT WILL THE SPEAKER MAKE A MOCKERY OF PARLIAMENT?
Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow!
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - A much-anticipated amendment that most insiders saw as having a snowball's chance in fire was surprisingly approved. Then, a follow-up next step to size up ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin's support in his own Bersatu party was completed. So now, what will Muhyiddin do? Will he dare to take the bull by the horns, push out the six MPs and one state assemblyman who had controversially declared support for rival Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim - and call for by-elections that many believe will definitively show which of the two political titans will have the longer shelf life, he or Anwar?
"Don't dream," an insider in Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition brusquely told PoliticsNow!
"There's nothing Anwar needs to do or anything that Muhyiddin can do. ROS and law are different. The law is defective. There is no way by-elections can be done," the insider added but then declined to explain his statement.
WHAT DREAM? ALL THE STEPS HAVE BEEN COMPLIED WITH...
The ROS or Registrar of Societies had on April Fool's day approved an amendment sought by Bersatu to its party constitution. With the amendment in place, any of Bersatu's elected representatives who pledged support for another political party or coalition would be deemed as having automatically terminated their membership in the party - and as such must immediately vacate their seats.
As the six Members of Parliament and one state assemblyman had controversially pledged support for Anwar's party before the amendment was approved, Bersatu had sent a notice giving them 14 days, expiring on May 31, to restate their stand - but the seven stuck to their guns and did not reply to the notice.
Bersatu has since declared the cessation of their membership. “They have lost their membership,” confirmed Bersatu information chief Razali Idris a day ago.
It was not just the rebel seven but all of the party's elected representatives who were required to sign and return the notices - stating their loyalty to Bersatu and disavowing from declaring allegiance to any other political party, coalition or leader not from their own party.
"A total of 25 MPs and 58 state assemblypersons have signed the letter (order) and returned it to Bersatu's secretary-general within 14 days," Muhyiddin had announced on June 1. Only the seven did not do so.
Party youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal said the next step would "logically" be to inform Speaker of the Parliament, Johari Abdul, of the rogue seven's loss of membership and to declare their seats vacant - paving the way for by-elections.
“It is written in the constitution that they have to be stripped of their memberships if they do not return a signed supreme council order as a pledge of their loyalty. It is just like Umno and DAP’s party constitution. Their membership will automatically be stripped,” said Wan Fayhsal.
WILL THE SPEAKER MAKE A MOCKERY OF PARLIAMENT?
The attention now swivels to Johari, the Speaker of the august house who is a member of Anwar's PKR party and a long-time stalwart in the prime minister's inner circle.
Concerns are that Johari will fail to declare the seats vacant as by-elections are unlikely to favor Anwar or the unity government he leads.
Indeed, public sympathy especially among the predominant Malay electorate appears to be with Muhyiddin on this issue. Anwar's team is seen as having behaved badly - with accusations flying in both the political and public domains that they were indirectly enticing and compelling weak representatives in the Opposition to unofficially and unscrupulously switch sides by agreeing to release federal funds and constituency allocations only to those who declared support for Anwar.
The Bersatu seven are Syed Abu Hussin the Bukit Gantang MP, Azizi Abu Naim the Gua Musang MP, Zulkafperi Hanapi the Tanjong Karang MP, Zahari Kechik the Jeli MP, Iskandar Dzulkarnain the Kuala Kangsar MP, Suhaili Abdul Rahman the Labuan MP and Rashid Asari the state assemblyman for Selat Klang, Selangor.
Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow!
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