Law minister declines to yield to no-confidence motions, says no doubt about Muhyiddin’s majority

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 ― The government will not give precedence to motions of no-confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as these were no indications he has lost majority support, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan told Parliament today.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) asserted that this was clear from the passage of Budget 2021 through the policy stage.

“The Opposition claimed if the Budget was not approved the MP for Pagoh (Muhyiddin) would have to step down as prime minister due to lack of support,” he said in response to a question from Hassan Abdul Karim (Ind-Pasir Gudang).

“However the Budget was eventually approved and we are bound by Standing Orders 14 and 15(1) which states government matters come first over all else.

“Since there are no clear indications that the MP for Pagoh has lost the confidence of the House, we the government feel these motions of no-confidence and confidence are specific in nature and for everyone’s benefit we believe there is no urgency in this,” said Takiyuddin during the ministers question time in Parliament.

There were 25 motions of no-confidence and two motions of confidence submitted on Muhyiddin for this meeting.

However, Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun previously said Parliament’s Standing Orders prevented him from allowing these to reach the floor of the House before all governmental matters were concluded.

This had led the Opposition to assert that it would block Budget 2021 as a proxy.

By convention, a rejection of the federal Budget is considered a successful vote of no-confidence against the ruling party and should be met by the resignation of the entire Cabinet.

However, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ordered the side’s lawmakers not to block Budget 2021 during vote at the policy stage.