PAKATAN Harapan (PH) needs to make all their state speakers apolitical instead of pointing fingers at the Dewan Negara president, said a MIC lawmaker.

Party youth chief C. Sivarraajh said all state assembly speakers are political party members and it was unfair to train their guns at MIC president S.A. Vigneswaran, who is the Senate president.

“There is no requirement for a speaker to be apolitical. All the state speakers are political appointees from parties.

“They should first ask them to relinquish their posts instead of asking Vigneswaran to step down,” he told The Malaysian Insight when contacted.

The Cameron Highlands lawmaker was responding to DAP’s Lim Lip Eng, who urged Vigneswaran to resign as Dewan Negara speaker as it is common practice for political appointees to step down from their positions after a change in government.

Sivarraajh also said the current Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohd Ariff Md Yusof still was an Amanah member even though he relinquished his party post.

But, he said there was no reason for Vigneswaran to resign and he “will stay on till his term finishes”.

Vigneswaran’s term is set to expire in 2020.

Meanwhile, Vigneswaran, when contacted, slammed Lim for being overzealous about political appointments as even PH does it extensively.

“Do not change the game at your own whims and fancy,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Lim said Vigneswaran may proclaim impartiality but he should resign from his post in MIC.

The Kepong MP said once Vigneswaran stepped down, the PH government could appoint a candidate of its choice.

PH will have difficulty passing non-finance bills at the senate level as it doesn’t have a majority in the upper house. – July 17, 2018.