Bastian Pius Vendargon said the honourable path for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was to convene a sitting of the Dewan Rakyat as soon as possible to have a motion of no confidence tabled.
“All Standing Orders may be appropriately applied to conduct this exercise,” he said, adding that this was critical for the government to function, more so when there were lingering doubts over its legitimacy.
Vendargon was responding to Muhyiddin’s announcement earlier today that he was not resigning from his post as he still enjoyed sufficient support in the Dewan Rakyat.
Muhyiddin added that his government would table a motion of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat in September to test his majority, adding that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had consented to his proposal.
Muhyiddin said yesterday he had received a letter from the King notifying him that eight Umno MPs had written to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker notifying him that they had withdrawn their support for the prime minister.
Under the Westminster parliamentary democracy model, convention allows the confidence or no-confidence vote to be taken on the floor of the legislative assembly.
In the Federal Constitution, Article 43 (4) states the prime minister has to resign with his Cabinet if he loses the confidence vote and the King declines to dissolve the House for a fresh election.
Vendargon said the 10-month-old Pakatan Rakyat government in Perak was ousted without a floor vote in the state assembly in 2009.
He said the Federal Court later ruled that the Sultan of Perak was right to take extraneous methods to sack Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar and appoint Barisan Nasional’s Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar.
This came after the Ruler had interviewed all 59 assemblymen and received statutory declarations (SDs) to conclude that Nizar no longer enjoyed the support of the majority to remain as head of the state government.
“The courts have thus recognised another way. However, the prevailing view among constitutional thinkers is that the more acceptable option of measuring the level of confidence is in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.
Lawyer Zainur Zakaria said Muhyiddin only claimed he enjoyed the support of the majority during his audience with the King today but did not show evidence.
He said any MP, who was confident he had the majority support, could now seek an audience with the King.
“In that scenario, the monarch has to consider appointing an MP as prime minister based on the legal principle already established in the Perak case,” he said.
Zainur said Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister after the Sheraton Move last year and through the reliance of SDs that the majority of MPs supported him.
Lawyer Abdul Shukor Ahmad said today’s event was a setback for Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as MPs from his party had failed to adhere to his directive to withdraw support for the government.
“He has lost credibility as there is no truth in his statement,” the lawyer said, alluding to Zahid’s announcement yesterday that Muhyiddin has to step down as a sufficient number of SDs had been presented to the King.
Muhyiddin needs the support of at least 111 members since the Dewan Rakyat has 220 MPs.
There are two vacancies following the deaths of the Gerik and Batu Sapi MPs last year.