UMNO lawmakers must show their loyalty to their party first, and not to the government they serve, said political observers.

Two pundits said that Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was acting within his prerogative to order his party’s Members of Parliament to withdraw support from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

However, an academic disputed this view, and said Zahid should not act on his own but must stick to decisions made unanimously by the party.

Veteran political observer Sayuti Omar backs the school of thought that although Umno lawmakers have their right to back the government they prefer, they should, however, respect and stay loyal to the party instead of rebelling against the president.

“As the president, Zahid has the prerogative to issue the order. If he can’t do so, what is the point of him becoming the president?

“However, the MPs also have the right to choose which government they prefer to support, but as an MP representing the party, they should stay loyal to the party and respect the president,” said the author of numerous local political books.

He added that the Umno MPs who have rejected their president’s call and announced their support for the government must think hard in considering their options.

“This is because, at the end of the day, it is the party which will decide if any of them will still be an election candidate,” he said.

Sayuti was referring to Zahid’s ultimatum to party lawmakers to state their stand on withdrawing from the PN government. The ultimatum ends tomorrow.

A letter from Umno secretary general Ahmad Maslan was distributed to all MPs from the party earlier this week following Umno’s decision to pull out from supporting Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the government.

It was also reported that Zahid had presented the Yang di-Pertuan Agong with a list of names of Umno MPs who agreed to withdraw support from Muhyiddin.

Sayuti said if these rebel MPs were to be brought to Umno’s disciplinary board for disobeying the president, they should be disciplined as an Umno member and not as an MP.

“If as an MP, they can’t be punished. It is their entitlement to do so and this is guaranteed under the constitution.

“Therefore, Umno needs to take action against them as Umno members for going against the president,” he explained.

Hisommudin Bakar of Ilham Centre said the ultimatum was to pressure Umno MPs to stay loyal to the party.

He added that it was also a signal to rebel party members to abide by and respect the president’s order.

“One interesting point is, what would happen to the MPs who refused to toe the line. Of course, there will be disciplinary action but what sort of action will be taken?

“It is clear the ministers’ cluster in PN is staying and backing Muhyiddin. They will not turn their back. Umno has to make a bold and brave decision soon,” he said.

President can’t act unilaterally

Universiti Utara Malaysia Prof Dr Ahmad Martadha Mohamed said Zahid should not be forcing the party’s lawmakers to toe his line, adding that such decisions must be made collectively.

The academic said that Umno had agreed to stay with PN until the next general election, a decision that was reached during the party’s general assembly last year.

“In any party, a president cannot force its MPs, and any decision made, must be made collectively. This was made during the general assembly where Umno said they would stick with PN until the GE and there would be no cooperation with PKR or DAP.

“It was clear. Therefore, the decision from the supreme council to back off from supporting Muhyiddin, and Zahid’s decision to ask MPs to sign a letter of declaration were not in tandem with the general assembly,” he said.

He added that the president should also not act unilaterally without consulting the supreme council.

“This letter of declaration demand was not made during any supreme council meeting. If there was, there surely must be a statement about it,” he said.

Following Zahid’s announcement on Tuesday that a number of Umno MPs have pulled their support for him, Muhyiddin said the next day he would face a confidence vote when Parliament meets next month to clear doubts about his legitimacy as prime minister.

He has since been bombarded with calls to hold the vote in an emergency sitting next week, rather than wait till next month.

Yesterday, 31 Barisan Nasional members of parliament expressed their support for the Perikatan government. Twenty-eight of them were from Umno.

They said they would leave it to Parliament to test the government’s legitimacy.

Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also Umno vice president, led the group of lawmakers, 21 of whom were present at the press conference held in Kuala Lumpur.

The MPs present were Mahdzir Khalid (Padang Terap), Shahidan Kassim (Arau), Idris Jusoh (Besut), Noh Omar (Tanjong Karang), Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak), Hasan Ariffin (Rompin), Abdul Azeez Rahim (Baling), Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera), Annuar Musa (Ketereh), Halimah Sadique (Kota Tinggi), Ismail Mohd Said (Kuala Krau), Abdul Rahman Mohd (Lipis), Ismail Mutalib (Maran), Shahar Abdullah (Payar Besar), Mastura Mohd Yazid (Kuala Kangsar), Ahmad Hamzah (Jasin), Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Padang Rengas), Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu), Salim Sharif (Jempol), Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam) and M. Saravanan (Tapah).

Ismail read out the names of 10 other MPs who were absent, some of them due to ministerial duties.

They were Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau), Reezal Merican Naina Merican (Kepala Batas), Dr Adham Baba (Tenggara), Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong), Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis), Nizar Zakaria (Parit), Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (Putrajaya), Arthur Joseph Kurup (Pensiangan), Zahidi Zainul Abidin (Padang Besar) and Wee Jeck Seng (Tanjung Piai).

However, Noh Omar and Azeez later clarified they only attended to hear the briefing provided by Ismail as he was the parliament whip for government lawmakers.

They said their position was still consistent with that of the party’s supreme council on not supporting the PN government. – August 7, 2021.