Ali Biju
KUCHING (Aug 12): Saratok MP Datuk Ali Biju yesterday hit out at Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for slamming Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun over the latter’s apparent failure to inform Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of MPs who have retracted their support for him as prime minister.
In a statement, Ali said Anwar’s move in attacking Azhar, as reported by an online news portal yesterday, was “wrong and spiteful” and called it a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
“Neither the Federal Constitution nor the Standing Orders of the House assigns any such role to the Speaker of the House on the question of whether or not the prime minister has the majority support of the House.
“If the Speaker presumes to officially inform the prime minister as to whether he has the majority, the Speaker would be acting beyond his jurisdiction and power.
“It is utterly shameful that the leader of the opposition, who has been an MP for decades, is totally ignorant of this fact or worse, he is fully aware of it but deliberately misleading the public in order to unleash a scurrilous attack upon the Speaker and the august institution of Parliament,” said Ali, who is Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister.
He also said it was unbecoming and “totally malicious” of Anwar to attack the Speaker, and wondered whether the PKR president had lost the plot in his desperation to become prime minister.
“The PM has already fixed Sept 7 for a motion of confidence to be brought before the House. Anwar Ibrahim’s lack of patience is his Achilles Heel and has never served him well. He should learn from his past impatience which has put him where he is today,” Ali added.
In the online portal report, Anwar said the failure to inform Muhyiddin of MPs who had retracted their support for him as prime minister showed that Azhar was unfit for the job as Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
He said Azhar had publicly announced when Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah withdrew his support for Muhyiddin last month, but had not done so now despite 15 Umno lawmakers having written to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on their decision to pull their support for the prime minister.
Anwar questioned whether Azhar was simply incompetent or playing politics to prop up an ailing government, to allow a prime minister who has seemingly lost his majority to remain in power.