Nothing illegal about Umno MPs toppling PN govt, says Dr M

PETALING JAYA: There was nothing illegal about Umno MPs retracting support for the Perikatan Nasional government in August, but they denied the people the right to choose their own government, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

“There is, therefore, a need to put a stop to this abuse of the Constitution,” the former prime minister said in a blogpost on parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

Mahathir said the constitutional monarchy system was meant to deprive the Yang di-Pertuan Agong from exercising executive power.

However, if an elected government abused its powers, it could be overthrown through a vote of no-confidence in Parliament.

And if the government did not allow Parliament to sit, the only other recourse was a general election, he said.

However, an election could not be held because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the only way out of such an impasse was for the King to exercise his discretionary power, which included the appointment of a prime minister.

Mahathir said the situation in the country had become untenable because the then PN government was not able to deal with multiple crises due to the pandemic and the collapse of the economy.

He said this forced Muhyiddin Yassin to appoint a deputy who had to be from Umno, and this eventually led to his government being overthrown.

“The 15 Umno members whose withdrawal of support brought Muhyiddin’s government down then joined forces with other PN members to support the Umno DPM,” he said.

On Aug 3, Umno withdrew its support for the PN-led government barely a month after it officially retracted support for Muhyiddin as prime minister.

The party’s decision subsequently led to Muhyiddin stepping down from the post and Ismail Sabri Yaakob being appointed as the country’s ninth prime minister. — Free Malaysia Today