KUALA LUMPUR: Attempts by several members of parliament to raise the motion of no confidence against the prime minister have made it to the top of the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper.
This, said RSN Nayer (PH-PKR-Jelutong) should have allowed the motion to be given priority and debated in the Lower House.
"I believe a total of 16 motions of no confidence against Pagoh (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) have been submitted by the MPs including Langkawi (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad). In light of the recent developments in Perak, can we do the same and give priority to the motion to be debated and voted?" he asked Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun.
The no-confidence motion is listed as the 23rd item and 25th item out of 68 items in today's Order Paper, and was filed by Datuk Wira Amiruddin Hamzah (Pejuang-Kubang Pasu) and former prime minister Dr Mahathir (Pejuang-Langkawi), respectively.
Sim Tze Tzin (PKR-Bayan Baru) said the motion was filed as it involved the question of legitimacy of the government that must represent the majority voice in the House.
In response, Azhar said he was not bound to actions by other Speakers especially state assemblies, and that his action of not bringing the motion notices to the top of the Order Paper list was taken after extensive research on the matter.
He cited an MP from the United Kingdom, Jeremy Corbyn, who had filed a no confidence motion against the prime minister in 2018.
"An MP, Valerie Vaz then asked the speaker why the motion was not pushed up in the Order Paper. In reply, the speaker said he had yet to get any indication that the government wants the motion to be number one. The power is not in the Speaker's hand.
"If we look at Westminster democracy's practices and conventions, the Speaker does not have the authority to bring the no-confidence motion to Number 1 (in the Order Paper)," he said.
Azhar said he was baffled as to why many MPs, academicians, lawyers and even the former attorney-general had said he had the authority to do so.