PARLIAMENT will only feature the opening speech of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong when it meets this Monday (May 18), ruling out a vote of no confidence in Parliament on that day.
The Dewan Rakyat meeting will not have any other government business to attend to that day after the king’s speech, said Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.
“I received a letter signed by the prime minister who is the Ketua Majlis, informing that as the Covid-19 outbreak has not been completely subsided, the government had decided that the first meeting of the third session of the 14th Parliament would only take place for a day on May 18.
“There will be no meeting after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s opening address,” Mohamad Ariff said in a statement today.
In the run-up to this announcement, the one-day meeting was supposed to include a few items in the order paper including the declaration of the appointment of the opposition leader as well as the tabling of two supplementary supply bills.
This will also effectively mean that a no-confidence motion cannot be tabled at this sitting and any such move will have to wait until July 13 at the earliest, when Parliament reconvenes.
On May 8, Mohamad Ariff said that he had accepted a motion of no-confidence from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The motion, the speaker said in a statement that day, was slated to be included in the July 18 order list.
Former Backbenchers Council chief coordinator Ong Ooi Heng told FocusM that once the Speaker had accepted the motion, it would only be listed in the order paper and be left alone.
“Unless the PM gives precedence to the motion,” he said. “But sooner or later, the PM will have to deal with such a motion. Or else the question of legitimacy will keep arising.” – May 13, 2020
