If PKR/PAS of Pakatan Rakyat plays this game of using crossovers to pass sucessfully a vote of no confidence on the Prime Minister and his cabinet, what happens?

Article 43(4) of Federal Constitution stipulates that “If the Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the Prime Minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet.”

This means that the Prime Minister could request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament and because Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution stipulates that “whenever Parliament is dissolved a general election shall be held within sixty days from the date of the dissolution” we will be cionfronted with another general election – the 13th (Badawi’s lucky number!) shortly after the 12th on 8th March.

The message from Pakatan Rakyat to Rakyat will clearly be : “We’re not waiting for the General Election to be called by the Prime Minister in the ordinary course of convention within the next 5 years; we’re not inclined to show you how we could run the 5 state governments controlled by us up to next 5 years; we want to take over the federal government now……”

Leaving aside the issue whether this backdoor attrempt to take over the government vis no confidence motion backed by crossovers serves or undermines, in principle, the Cause of Democracy, Other Questions to be raised are:-

1. are Pakatan Rakyat coalition parties sure that in this 13th General Election they will do far better than the 12th GE on 8th March 2008? What happens if Opposition parties don’t do better, or wors still, do worse than March 8th and BN still get more than 51% majority in 13th GE???

2. if Pakatan Rakyat coalition parties get slim majority to form next government and instal Anwar, what is there to stop BN to play the same game of enticing crossovers from Pakatan Rakyat and usher another – the 14th General Election – by the end of 2008, and this game keep on being played to and fro, ad infinitum?

There will be no political stability in the country – because of this new game of buying or enticing crossovers to repeatedly change government! Yes BN also bought cross overs in the past, so is it tit for tat now???

It is not so simple then and now are different. Now the BN and PR are neck to neck, neither having very clear majority to buffer crossovers from precipitating a motion of no confidence and change of government!

You can kiss goodbye to foreign investors – even domestic ones. Who can deal with a government that changes every six months depending on the vagaries of crossovers? And we’re having all this instability amid a looming economic malestorm on the international front???

There is a further asumption that against backdrop of such tactics, BN will not try to stem this kind of “new politics” by invoking ISA or some mischeivous elements will not capitalise on the fluid situtation to instigate riot like May 13 for their own agenda!

Sorry for being out of topic but this important issue has been raised and commented upon by serveral posters here.

Where do you YB Kit – and DAP – stand on this issue that your partners PKR and PAS are instigating???

YB Kit,

I think you have to respond to Tun Dr Mahathir’s allegations against you, Karpal and DAP published on page 57 of today’s The Star – under “A political Mystery is finally solved”..

TDM alleges: There is “pakat” (conspiracy) involving DAP and PM Abdullah Badawi; that DAP is friendly with PM, won’t criticize PM, Karpal would criticize TDM instead – why, because (the gist of it as I understand what TDM is saying) you’re using PM’s continuance and ineptness to buttress Opposition gains, as happened in last election. What is insidious is TDM’s statement that “Certainly Opposition Parties knew that Malays, including UMNO members, were strongly critical (read: opposed) of Datuk Seri Abdullah…”

Kit – he is playing racial card by trying to whip up Malay support against the PM by imputing that DAP (which Malays are generally not inclined to support) is “pakat” with the PM.

I think you need to give a strong response to TDM’s making this kind of racial appeal for his agenda against the PM!

sorry – “tread” not “thread”

Godfather,

I may be wrong but I really think in the scenario outlined, by convention and constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cannot, will not and ought not to demand that the Badawi administration resign and just substitute it with an “Anwar administration”. It won’t work that way. If Badawi’s administration does not resign on own accord in a certian eventuality as that outlined, the Agong cannot allow such a state to continue where PM does not command majority in Dewan Rakyat and will have to dissolve parliament for another election to determine afresh the rakyat’s renewed mandate. I think Westminister Parliamentary convention all around commonwealth countries including those of constitutional monarchy (Australia for example) dictates such a course. In Australia, some years back, then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, had dismissed Gough Whitlam and his Labor government after their failure to secure supply in the Senate in the constitutional crisis of 1975, appointed Opposition Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as only “caretaker” Prime Minister to advise the Governor on dissolution of both houses and the calling of an early election, the outcome of which in that case saw Opposition Liberal party returning with clear majority and Malcolm Fraser’s leading it.

“///….please do not change the agenda of Judiciary and all to do with laws and lawyers into Tuns’ AGENDA ….///” – ADAM YONG IBNI ABDULLAH

The agendas are inter-connected. Tun is whipping up Malay support to depose the incumbent (eg his letter to The Star about DAP & Badawi ‘pakat’. Already many UMNO divisions led by Ghani (sympathetic to TDM’s call) are lobbying for Pak Lah to go on leave. Then 15 Umno divisions in Kedah were beginning to make calls for Najib to challenge Abdullah for the Umno presidency in the party polls scheduled for December 16-20.
If Pak Lah is out due to gathering of momentum of TDM’s call, do you foresee whosoever the successor getting the top slot position because of TDM’s help and hence beholden to TDM will be interested to continue or press for judicial reforms that are being discussed in this thread when it will put his patron TDM in bad light? You’d noticed that whatever criticisms TDM throws at the present BN administration, he has never included criticisms that there is a need for judicial reforms – because if there were a need for reforms then that implies he is accountable for the resons why judiciary needs reforms.

So you have to look at the bigger macro picture of TDM’s on-going challenge against Pak Lah in the context of the prospects of rakyat’s agenda for judicial and other reforms in this country, and whether these reforms will take place if TDM’s agenda is successful.