KUALA LUMPUR: Perikatan Nasional (PN) has been told to stop being nostalgic and accept the fact that the 73 parliamentary seats it won in the 15th General Election (GE15) did not qualify it to form the federal government.
Former Kuala Nerus Member of Parliament, Datuk Dr Khairuddin Aman Razali said this is because PN failed to meet the simple majority requirement of 112 Members of Parliament, for it to form the government.
He also refuted PN's claim that the unity government is a minority government because it has the backing of 148 MPs, comprising 82 from Pakatan Harapan (PH), 30 from Barisan Nasional (BN); 23 from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS); six from Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS); three from Parti Warisan; two independents and one MP respectively from Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM).
"Doesn't the appointment of the new PH-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, his two deputies Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN) and Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof (GPS) show this government has the most numbers, 82, 30 and 23, respectively.
"When another minister is appointed to represent GRS, the total is 141. That is not including Warisan, PBM, KDM and Independent, all 148 MPs, have reached a two-thirds majority," he said in a Facebook posting.
Last Thursday, Pas secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan claimed that the new government is not a unity government, but rather a minority government because none of them has sufficient seats to form a government on their own.
Meanwhile, Khairuddin said GPS and GRS had previously supported PN with the assumption that BN was ready to form a government with the coalition.
However, he said, GPS and GRS switched their support to the unity government when they realised that only a few MPs 'stolen via back door' from BN had backed PN.
"If PN is still not satisfied, come Dec 19, they can validate and voice their grouses in Parliament.
"In the meantime, accept the decision to form the unity government. If you still want to form the government, then persuade BN through the front door, then GPS and GRS will follow, but the question remains, can the government be stable or will the turmoil of 2020 and 2022 repeat itself?" he asked.