October 22, 2015
Malaysia: The No-Confidence Motion–The Political Shadow Plays
By Terence Netto
Thumbs Up for Some, Thumbs Down for Others
There are two facets to PKR Deputy President and MP for Gombak Azmin Ali’s disclosures yesterday about the no-confidence motion that Opposition Leader Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is to propose during the current sitting of Parliament. Both were equally heartening though not equally credible.
The one about PAS agreeing to back the no-confidence motion is not as plausible as that which disclosed that some UMNO and BN backbenchers have approached opposition legislators to indicate interest to support the move.
If the PAS contingent of MPs were unitedly for the measure, it would have more likely been that party Secretary-General Takiyuddin Hassan, MP for Kota Baru, would have spoken to the press rather than leave it to Azmin to do the talking.
It’s not that one of the PAS MPs, in the fashion of PKR’s Hee Loy Sian vis-a-vis Lim Guan Eng, would jump up, after Azmin had done the speaking, to rebuke the PKR No 2 for his presumption.
It’s just that it is more believable that if the whole contingent of PAS MPs are for a measure as weighty as the no confidence move against Prime Najib Razak, their point man would have elected to do so and not depend on relaying it through the leader of another – albeit – allied party.
PAS is known to be divided on this issue, with the top two in the party not in favour of a move to end Najib Abdul Razak’s premiership, while lower down the hierarchy there is no love lost for the PM.
She can’t hold PKR and Pakatan together–No Confidence Motion is a Real Joke
Similarly, PKR is not very united on a no-confidence motion, which was probably why a MP pretty junior in the party’s pecking order had to go out on a limb to file notice of the motion, presumably to jolt the party out of its lassitude on the issue, even if that risked inviting some disparaging remarks from fellow oppositionists like DAP Secretary-General Guan Eng who made the valid point that for weighty propositions to carry the floor, proponents of comparable heft should make all the running.
The last thing a necessitous, if arithmetically challenged, measure needs at this point in its saga is that of it being mired in petty squabbles such as Hee’s tart “You are not my boss” riposte to Guan Eng.
From that standpoint, Azmin’s brace of disclosures yesterday that PAS would back the no-confidence motion – even if’ not quite credible – and that some UMNO and BN backbenchers have signalled support for the move gets the backwagon moving towards a denouement.
The point of whether speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia would allow the motion to be tabled is at present not as critical as the fact that the move has gunned to a start.
Reliant on a momentum all its own
Matters of this kind are reliant on a momentum all its own: once the wheels start moving, there’s no saying how things would end and neither can a parliamentary arbiter of tacit reformist, if still staunchly pro-BN credentials like Pandikar stand athwart it.
The 1MDB issue is the biggest national crisis since Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965; to treat of it like it is some foetid air that can stay in the room without opening the windows to let out the stench is akin to expecting birds of prey to circle around rather than feast on an ample carrion.
The disclosure by Azmin that some UMNO and BN MPs have indicated support for the no-confidence move come as the least of surprises. They must be certain of what is by now a common surmise in opposition quarters, that if the 1MDB issue is not resolved soon it will put the skids under UMNO-BN going into the next general election (GE14).
This is despite the disarray in the opposition ranks caused mainly by the obdurate unilateralism of PAS and factionalism in PKR. But these obstacles are not intractable. They are pliable to the flows of public opinion which is currently running in favour of full disclosure by the PM on the 1MDB issue.
Full disclosure is just what is not now available. One suspects it will never arrive at that stage which is why the no-confidence motion against Najib is off to a start that is inevitable – if parliamentary democracy is still alive in Malaysia.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.
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Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
I am not surprised that Ku Li does not wish to be a part of it. Vote against the 2015-2016 Budget proposals and see what happens next. If the Dewan approves the Budget, game is over for the Opposition and Pakatan as a viable alternative goes with it. I am afraid Najib will remain in power until GE 14 and beyond if UMNO does not remove as its President.–Din Merican
Malaysian do not rationalise what’s good or bad. They are cultured to care only for themselves and blamed others when things don’t goes in their way. That’s why we are not able to come together to rid the corrupted government that is holding us for ransom day in day out. We are so fook. Its frustrating. Don’t blame others, we can even sack the government we ’employed’. Malaysia is doomed, period.
By right the motion of the vote of no confidence shld be filed by a BN MP. It is their BN Chairman who is also the PM who is corrupt.
Logically why should the Opposition moved a vote of no confidence against a BN PM to be replaced by another BN PM; unless there was a prior agreement that Opposition MPs would be considered for cabinet appointment in an interim unity government.
Actually the opposition by filing the motion is doing all the donkey works while the rewards of such work if it goes through will either go to Muhyideen or KU Li. Both seem to play safe and are not showing their hands. And Ku Li had even gone on record that he is not supporting it.
But all is not lost for the opposition. By filing the motion, they showed to Malaysians that they do not approve of a corrupt PM leading the nation whilst the BN has no qualms of having a corrupt PM who is destroying the nation.
Why did that Member for Gelang Patah not wait until the vote on the motion mentioned in this article before doing what he did that generously earned him a six- month suspension. Anyway an MP for 40years should know what he is doing.
TLMan, a man has got to do what a man has got to do, but faced with a speaker who interprets rules as and when he fancies, it is a tremendous challenge! Even Tun M is at his wits end!
Din is right. Stop being delusional in thinking that Najib would be getting rid of in GE14. If Nixon can win with a landslide, so can Najib. I dare to say Najib can declare himself as President for life just like Republic of Congo’s president……hahahahaha
Congo President is seeking for constitutional change in order to stay as president for 3rd term through so called referendum
That could happen to Najib too. Najib shall in 2/3 majority in GE14 regardless of any malice of that CON—–RAT……..hahahahaha
When we were children we did things when we wanted to do them. But as you get older you learn to prioritize what you want to do and become more strategic in what you do. You become a bit more calculative and to some extent crafty, an adjective commonly used to characterize politicians of the caliber of the Member for Gelang Patah. We will never be able to say for certain what was behind his move . But to accept some explanation set out in this blog, to say the least, does not reflect the craftiness that has been so widely ascribed to some of the elder MP from the Opposition Bench.
This is incremental feasible improvement for Malaysia politics: Get the vote of no confidence tabled in Parliament, air the parliamentarians debate to public, and accept the resulting voted verdict (whatever it is).
If the above small improvement is what we want, then our focus are to pressure the Speaker to allow a well-publicized debate in the Parliament. In other words, the focus is to urge MPs to submit to the procedure sanctioned by the Constitution, not submit to their ego or immediate party or personal interest or Allah when governance is concerned.
As I have said MANY times that that TRH of Tanjung rambutan has NO BALLS.
The father of Off- Budget Agencies is part of the problem.
Din,
Jibby’s budget live streaming……..More bullshits coming