By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Oct 15: The claims by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that he has a majority in Parliament will not be translated to an immediate change in premiership, opined a socio-political analyst from University of Malaya (UM) Associate Prof Dr Azman Awang Pawi.
He believed that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah would prefer Parliament to decide as he would not want to be seen as siding to anyone.
“After he (Agong) had appointed Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister in February, I believed the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will exhaust all avenues by listening to party leaders as well as from the MPs who are purportedly in the list of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s camp.
“I believe the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will then leave it to Parliament to decide on who has the majority through ballot,” Awang Azman told DayakDaily when contacted today.
According to Awang Azman, Anwar actually has the much-needed number as there have been speculations that at least 19 MPs from Umno have switched camp.
“Of course, when they have the party meeting on October 19, Umno MPs will decide as a block whether to continue to support Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or otherwise.
“But in Parliament sitting, it will be on individual votes and no longer be depending on political blocs. So that will the time all Malaysians will see who are with Tan Sri Muhyiddin and who are with Anwar,” he opined.
Awang Azman also believed that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will stick with the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) rather than switching camp as it already has a good deal.
“Perhaps Sabah’s Warisan might switch camp as they have nothing to lose,” he added.
Awang Azman was commenting on Anwar’s claim on Tuesday (Oct 13) that he has the majority seats in Parliament following his courtesy call on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara on Tuesday morning.
However, Palace official later clarified that Anwar only informed the King that he has the majority but did not submit the list MPs who are aligned with him.
“Not submitting names may all be part of Anwar master plan as he didn’t want to reveal the name list to avoid pressure or anyone pulling out at the last minute,” said Awang Azman, who is also a research fellow at UM’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel).
It was reported that Agong will summon party leaders in the next few days to discuss the latest political update.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had told the media that he would leave the matter to the Agong to decide on the next course of action. — DayakDaily
