Umno to make its own stand on confidence vote
Umno’s supreme council will decide on how all 38 of its MPs should vote on the proposal by PAS to bring a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Parliament when the time comes, says party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
The proposal by PAS to bring a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Parliament has gained traction with Umno MPs, whose leaders said that it would vote as one bloc.
Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the party’s supreme council would decide on how all 38 of its MPs should vote “when the time comes”.
Although Umno and PAS are in a collaboration called Muafakat Nasional, Zahid, who is Bagan Datuk MP, said the party would decide on its own whether its MPs would be voting for or against the vote of confidence in Dr Mahathir.
“Umno will decide when the time comes. Our party and MPs work together as one, not as separate units,” he said yesterday.
PAS leaders presented their proposal of the vote of confidence as well as their reasons to Umno at a Muafakat Nasional meeting last night.
Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is Barisan Nasional Opposition leader in Parliament, said Umno MPs must abide by what is decided by the party as a whole.
“In Dewan Rakyat, we (MPs) are called not by our names but by our parliamentary seats (which we represent as Barisan/Umno MPs). This means we must follow whatever decision that is made by the party,” said Ismail, who is Bera MP.
Ismail and Zahid were asked to comment on the proposal by PAS that it will table a vote of confidence in Dr Mahathir in the next Parliamentary session, slated to begin on March 9.
For Pakatan Harapan, its MPs are split between respecting a directive from the coalition’s presidential council or following their own preference when deciding if they would vote for Dr Mahathir in the Dewan
Rakyat.
Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, who is Kota Raja MP, said that he would take the “Pakatan stand” on the vote of confidence.
However, he did not elaborate what the “Pakatan stand” means or how the Pakatan vote will be decided.
Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, who is now on leave as PKR vice-president, said that she would definitely vote “Yes” if PAS goes ahead to table the vote of confidence in Dr Mahathir.
Selayang PKR MP William Leong said PAS’ proposal was a “trap”.
“Is PAS trying to trap us into voting against the PM who is one of our own? We should not play along and get caught in this game the Opposition is playing,” he added.
Leong, however, did not say how he would vote.
Alor Gajah MP Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia said as he was from Dr Mahathir’s party, he would definitely support his leader.
PAS announced on Saturday that their MPs will table a vote of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat for Dr Mahathir when Parliament convenes next month.
The Islamist party also said that all of its 18 MPs would give Dr Mahathir their full support to ensure he could complete his full term as the prime minister without having to hand over the baton to his successor mid-term.
The tabling of the vote of confidence was decided unanimously by the PAS central leadership council during its monthly meeting.
In recent months, the “numbers game” has been dominating the political scene as the issue of Dr Mahathir’s planned transition to his successor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hots up.
Under the Federal Constitution, the King will appoint one MP which he believes can garner at least a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat to become the prime minister.
The Constitution is, however, silent on whether the votes in support for the PM should be from the Opposition or the ruling government party.
Dr Mahathir had said that he felt as if he was “floating” with the support from PAS.
But he maintained that he did not need the vote of confidence as he is already the prime minister.