OF all the political deceit or maladministration that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has committed to stay in power, the one that would damage our politics permanently is perhaps the emasculation of parliament.

Back when Umno’s rule in this country seemed indomitable, even the staunchest defender of government would stop short of saying our parliament is truly independent.

Yet, the way the prime minister has toyed with Parliament since he came into power has even put the way past prime ministers, such as Dr Mahathir Mohamad or Najib Razak, treated parliament to shame.

There is a reason the role and functions of the Parliament has been made prominent since the political crisis of 2020. This is only because the appointment of Muhyiddin as prime minister was made possible through the doors of the palace and since there is no immediate election to sanctify his premiership, the Parliament is the only avenue that is left to confirm the prime minister’s legitimacy.

The Parliament in Malaysia has always been treated as a rubber-stamp institution not only because of its inherent subservience, but rather, historically, past prime ministers always enjoyed a strong majority in Parliament that proved unsurpassable, thus rendering any vote in Parliament meaningless.

Instead of a confidence motion that might cause any prime minister to shudder, prime ministers in Malaysia face their stiffest challenge either from their own political parties or during elections.

Dr Mahathir had always enjoyed a two-thirds majority during his first rule, yet his most difficult task was to stem rebellion within Umno or to prevent any of his successors from overthrowing him.

Even without a two-thirds majority, Najib Razak, who was mired in the 1MDB scandal in his time, stood undefeated in Parliament despite widespread backlash and criticism.

However, the Parliament would be a much different beast even within Malaysia’s political context if the prime minister has either no majority to show or merely sustained by a wafer thin one. 

The liberal appointment of ministers, two emergency attempts, the defection of opposition MPs and most of all misleading the Parliament on the emergency revocation by the prime minister are all deliberately done either to consolidate his support or to avoid a decisive vote that may expose his lack of majority in Parliament.

And if the Parliament has no voting process to begin with, the prime minister can always say he has the confidence of the majority in Parliament without being compelled to prove it.      

The coup that was instigated by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s gang of 11 has now, once again, cast serious doubt on the prime minister’s majority, and with two ministers’ resignations thus far, it is increasingly apparent that he has lost the confidence of the House and might technically be only overseeing a minority government now.

The tabling of a motion of confidence is indeed the right and applaudable thing to do for any prime minister, whose majority is called into question, for it reaffirms the spirit of parliamentary democracy and returns to Parliament the rightful role of legitimising a prime minister.

Yet such democratic acts and applause should not be extended to Muhyiddin and his government.

I have written many times about how, instead of serving as a threat to his power, Parliament could be used by the prime minister to strengthen his government.

He should instead return power to the Parliament and put his majority up for a test. As bizarre as this may sound now, the key to ensuring Muhyiddin’s stay in power actually lies in the legislative chamber.

While Muhyiddin’s first budget was only passed with the thinnest majority of 111 out of 219 MPs, he was granted a political reprieve after that as criticisms were instead trained towards the opposition and Perikatan Nasional rebels for failing to mount a challenge against the prime minister.

Things only began to go south for the prime minister when he managed to convince the palace to grant him emergency powers to combat Covid-19, but, in reality, it was invoked only to suspend Parliament.

Therefore, it could be said that the blunders stemming from the emergency, which include the royal reminder to convene Parliament at the earliest time, and de facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan misleading the Parliament, are all indirect consequences of the prime minister eschewing his responsibility to the Parliament.

In retrospect, the prime minister should never have invoked emergency powers as, throughout the emergency, Malaysia only inherited an out-of-control virus and government.    

The fact that the prime minister only turns to the Parliament in such trying times now, after what he has done, tells you that this is not a democratic act but rather a desperate act of last resort.

Given the prime minister’s penchant for disregarding parliamentary processes, you would suspect that the confidence motion is the only card he has left to convince the palace and Malaysians that he is still the prime minister for the time being.

There is also the question why a vote with grave importance and implications must only be held in a month’s time, which would only encourage more MPs bargaining and hopping.

Since the Parliament has not been prorogued, Muhyiddin has the absolute power to summon an emergency sitting immediately to resolve his confidence matter once and for all.

Yet the opposite has happened, and Malaysians are once again forced to wait for another month for any political certainty when, all the while, the country is breaking new records in daily infections and deaths. – August 8, 2021.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.