ART Harun is very much in the news now. He, whose real name is Azhar Azizan Harun, is the Dewan Rakyat speaker

Art has been recently described as one who has the world in his hands. But even if he doesn’t have that, he has the Standing Orders (SO) – not to mention the constitution and constitutional conventions.

He knows this, having relied on SO14 to back up his argument that it is a minister who must stand up to argue a motion. He dismisses talk that he has not been consistent about this.

Can the Dewan Rakyat speaker “push” a no-confidence motion to the top of the Order Paper? The answer is no in the 2015 video below of him on the topic “How to overthrow a government”.

So yes, Art has been consistent.

Art dismisses the use of SO18(1) to circumvent SO14(2) as the former is only for discussion purposes and not for voting on or against any resolution.

Puthan Perumal, however, counters that “a motion of urgency and public importance should be subject to debate and vote”. https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/279072

Art asserts that “when a piece of law expressly sets out a legal position, that law must be enforced. That would leave out any room for the exercise of a discretion. Any exercise of “discretion” in the face of a contrary or prohibitive legal proposition would be ultra vires the law. It would be an abuse. Or an illegality.”

But Art somehow overlooks SO99 which gives the speaker the discretion to decide upon any point of interpretation of any SO, or upon any matter of practice, and he may from time to time issue rulings thereon. And under SO99A there is no illegality in respect of parliamentary proceedings –only irregularity. This is because Article 62(1) of the federal constitution empowers each house of parliament to regulate its own procedure.

Now, Art should also nor overlook SO90(1) which gives the speaker the authority to suspend the SOs under SO90(1). This should allow a no-confidence motion to take precedence over government businesses.

Art Harun may not have the whole world in his hands, but he has the whole Standing Orders to serve him. – October 20, 2020.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.