DEWAN Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun should follow the precedent set in Perak and allow a confidence motion against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, said Nga Kor Ming.

“The Perak Speaker (Zahid Abdul Khalid) did the right thing today and Azhar should do the same and follow this example.

“A motion of confidence, as stated in the federal constitution and Perak constitution, involves the legitimacy of the government of the day and should precede all government business,” said the DAP Perak chairman and former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker in Ipoh today.

He said a confidence motion is necessary to ensure there is no “back-door government”.

Azhar has declined to allow any of the 25 confidence motions against Muhyiddin in the Dewan Rakyat, noting that Standing Orders state that government business comes first. 

Nga, who is the Aulong assemblyman, was speaking in a press conference after Perak Mentri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu had lost the confidence motion in the state assembly this morning. 

Faizal, the Cenderiang assemblyman, lost the confidence motion by a vote of 48 to 10 with 1 abstention in the 59-seat Perak assembly.

The confidence motion was raised by Umno’s Pengkalan Baharu assemblyman Abdul Manaf Hashim last month.

Speaking at the press conference, Simpang Pulai assemblyman Tan Kar Hing said: “The opposition had lost confidence in Faizal’s leadership

“And this was a solid vote against him in a motion put up by his own government,” said the PKR lawmaker.

“As the opposition, we were only carrying out our responsibility,” said Tan.

Faisal was appointed as Perak MB after Pakatan won the state in 2018. Although Bersatu had the fewest assemblymen, Pakatan decided to appoint him due to the power sharing agreement it had with Bersatu.

Following the collapse of Pakatan at the federal level in February, Ahmad Faisal resigned as the Pakatan MB to form a new state government with Barisan Nasional and PAS.

Despite Bersatu having just five assemblymen to Umno’s 25 and PAS’ three, Faizal was reappointed in March after PN took over the state.

The Perak Perikatan Nasional government is currently supported by eight PN assemblymen and 25 from BN, and also has support from one Gerakan assemblyman and one independent.

The opposition in Perak is made up of 24 assemblymen in PH – DAP (16), Amanah (five) and PKR (three).

The Perak state assembly sitting was scheduled today with the tabling of the state’s 2021 budget and is expected to sit for five days. – December 4, 2020.