MUDA president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has insisted that his party’s decision to withdraw support for the unity government did not breach any laws in the country.
Syed Saddiq said this is because the action was taken en-bloc, in line with the provisions of the Constitution (Amendment) Act (No.3) 2022 (Act A1663) which forbids members of the members of Dewan Rakyat from changing parties.
“There is no need for any Muda representative to vacate the seat won in the 15th General Election (GE15) or state election,” Syed Saddiq was reported as saying by Berita Harian today (Sept 18).
“It (withdrawal of support) was a decision based on the law, the Federal Constitution and the anti-hopping law which was presented together in the Dewan Rakyat before.
“The cooperation between Muda and Pakatan Harapan (PH) before GE15 was based on the ‘electoral pack’. Therefore, the decisions are made based on the Federal Constitution.”
On Sept 10, Syed Saddiq announced that his party has dropped out of the unity government after publicly expressing dissatisfaction with the abrupt halt of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Yayasan Akalbudi corruption trial.
Following Syed Saddiq’s decision, various parties have urged the Muar MP and Puteri Wangsa assemblywoman Amira Aisya Abd Aziz to vacate their seats.
Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq said that neither his side nor Muda had signed any memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the formation of the unity government on Dec 16, 2022.
“During the process of signing the MOU after GE15, I asked the secretariat, which was then led by Rafizi Ramli, who is also the PKR deputy president, whether signing the same document was necessary or not.
“However, he stated that it is not necessary, only to attend (the MoU signing ceremony) because we (Muda) are not in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Barisan Nasional (BN), or PH bloc,” he explained.
In a separate development, Syed Saddiq has reiterated his call for the government to fulfil their reform promises, and additionally claimed that the unity government is all action and no talk in regard to institutional reforms.
He was earlier referring to the speech by Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who told the Dewan Rakyat that the government will “walk the talk”.
“She said the government will ‘walk the talk’ and bring about a lot of reforms with one of them being the separation of powers between the Public Prosecutor and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
“But I believe that the Madani government is not a government that will ‘walk the talk’ but instead a ‘no action, talk only’ or ‘NATO’ government.
“Why I label them this is because there were a lot of reforms that were promised but until now, they have been delayed or not implemented,” he told a press conference during the winding up session of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review in Dewan Rakyat, today (Sept 18).
The former youth and sports minister added that there was no need to talk about new reforms, but the government must instead fulfil their previous promises.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said earlier this year that he wanted cabinet ministers to declare their assets, but eight months has elapsed, and it has not been declared.
“He said he wanted to give a fair and equitable allocation to all parliamentary constituencies regardless of whether it is under the opposition or government, but after several months, there were none.” – Sept 18, 2023
Main pic credit: Suara Merdeka
