By Raynore Mering, The Borneo Post
Thursday, June 19, 2008
KUCHING: There are two ways that members of parliament (MPs) can apply for a motion for a vote of no confidence motion in the Dewan Rakyat against a prime minister.
They can either apply for it as an ordinary motion, which has to be done 14 days in advance; or as a subtantiative motion under Rule 18 of Parliament’s Standing Orders, which needs only two days but has to satisfy three criteria.
Either way, it seems unlikely that the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) can move a motion this coming Monday against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.
Deputy Speaker of parliament Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pictured right) yesterday said that the country’s highest decision-making body had not received any application for a motion from SAPP.
Though he agreed that Rule 18 might be what SAPP is gunning for, he believed that they would not be able to satisfy the three criteria.
Speaker Datuk Pandikar Amin Mulia will chair the sitting on Monday.
Junaidi told The Borneo Post that for the Speaker to allow the motion under Rule 18, it had to be of a specific issue, of public interest and required to be expedited or that it was an issue that required urgency.
“You may be able to satisfy the first two criteria but you may not be able to satisfy the last one, so it wouldn’t be allowed. You must be able to give your reasons why something is of urgency because some of the reasons have already been handled or tackled by the government,??? he said.
Junaidi, the Santubong MP, pointed out that issues in Sabah like illegal immigration and the steep rise in fuel prices were already being tackled by the government and so there was no longer any urgency.
“If you look at it, if you put it under Rule 18, it would be rejected because the criteria are not necessarily satisfied. One of the basis is the question of development. Are you saying there is no development in Sabah? Since When? And now the prime minister has announced an additional allocation of RM1 billion to the state.???
Having said that, Junadi agreed that it was up to SAPP’s two MPs to apply for the motion under Rule 18 as an individual motion. If it is an ordinary motion, he said the Speaker would weigh it technically.
SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee told a press conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday that the party’s two MPs — Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) and Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) — would support a motion for a vote of no confidence against Abdullah on Monday.
“Whether the motion will be tabled by our MPs or another MP will be decided in due course,??? he said.
Four reasons were given at the press conference for backing the no-confidence vote.
Briefly, they were the lack of concrete actions to tackle illegal immigrants; the government had allegedly failed to provide “holistic economic solutions??? to the state; the SAPP MPs would fail in their role as elected representatives if they do not raise issues like corruption, transparency, wastage of resources and accountability; and the party believed that if the top leadership could not perform, Abdullah should make way for others to take over.
Speaking as an MP, Junaidi felt that SAPP was just a small party and if they were not happy with the Barisan Nasional (BN), they could not choose to remain in the coalition and go against the prime minister.
“Now you cannot have it both ways. You want to still be in the BN but you want to ‘hantam’ (slam) the prime minister. You cannot do that. Under the principle of collective responsibility in the practice of Westminster, you cannot do that.
“So the most honourable thing for them (the two SAPP MPs) to do is to resign from SAPP, otherwise SAPP can leave BN. If they don’t want to resign from SAPP, then they are doing something which is against the grain of BN understanding,??? said Junaidi.
He said the SAPP leaders had to think carefully about what they were going to do because the BN could decide to suspend their two MPs, though the duo could still attend sittings.
He felt that if SAPP did not take action against its members for behaving in such a way, then it was in cahoots with those who were against the BN.
“This is not the BN spirit. The coalition agreed that you must be one for all and all for one. I was a very harsh critic of the government when I was a backbencher but not to the extent of targeting the prime minister like that. It is not correct; he is the leader of the house, he is the leader of the country.
“All SAPP is trying to do is to gain political mileage for themselves and their leadership is weak for not being able to control the discipline of their MPs,??? he said.
When told that the SAPP leadership was supporting the motion if it was tabled, Junaidi replied: “If that is the case, they should leave the BN.???