DR Mahathir Mohamad said it is doubtful there is any political leader today who has the required majority in Dewan Rakyat to form the government.

“Maybe there isn’t,” he said to a question posed to him on the National Professors Council’s Bicara Negarawan programme today.

This however does not justify Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin using emergency law to stay in power, he said.

“The fact is Muhyiddin cannot use the emergency to remain in power.”

The former prime minister had previously said that there is no need to handle Covid-19 with emergency, and that existing laws are enough.

Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional government came to power at this time last year with a wafer-thin two-seat majority in parliament.

But two Umno lawmakers have since withdrawn their support for Muhyiddin.

At the same time, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has claimed to have the necessary number of MPs’ backing to form a government to replace Muhyiddin’s.

Dr Mahathir has also said he could cobble together the majority to form the government. For this he has the  support of Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

In what many perceive to be a pre-emptive tactic, on January 12, Muhyiddin announced that the Agong had agreed to declare an emergency in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

The prime minister said during the emergency, politics should be set aside and that parliament and elections would be suspended until the end of the emergency on August 1.

Yesterday, Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong quit PKR and declared their support for Muhyiddin.

Their support returns the simple majority to the prime minister.

Voters not respected

Dr Mahathir today was asked by the programme moderator Dr Muhammad Asri Mohd Ali if he had any advice to offer the next generation of leaders.

Dr Mahathir said it is most important that the politicians to respect the people’s mandate even though  although there are “other ways” to get into power.

 The statesman said governments could be bought these days.

“I am worried about graft because the government can now be bought with money. Anyone who has money can buy,” he said, pointing to the fall of the Warisan state government in Sabah as example.

“In the 14th general election, we chose the government but they used other ways to form a backdoor government.

“This is not in the Federal Constitution, Although it is not wrong, but this is not the way we should use to form a government,” he said .

“We have elections and we should respect that. President (Donald) Trump was chosen by the people and fulfilled his four years terms (and stepped down).

“However, in the case of Malaysia, the election losers have formed the government due to political manoeuvering while the winners became the opposition.

“This should not happen as this means that the people’s votes are not respected.” – March 1, 2021.