Lim Kit Siang

Arms deals inked by ‘expired PM’ may not be valid

by Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
Mar 30, 2013

Pakatan Rakyat would review all contracts signed by the federal government after March 8 and possibly cancel them if they are found to be unfair or involved abuse of power, if the coalition takes over Putrajaya, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

He said in his speech at Seputeh today that the government has no business signing these deals five years after the last general election; they should be considered interim agreements subject to confirmation by the succeeding government.

Highlighting the RM4.2 billion arms deal signed in Langkawi two days ago, he said: “We will not be bound by these agreements because these are done after March 8, when the prime minister has lost legitimacy and credibility, and is only an ‘expired’ prime minister.

“He cannot sign these agreements,” he said, adding that the federal government should declare every deal it inked since that date because it should not have endorsed them.

Lim was speaking at the official launching of DAP’s Seputeh election operations centre, which occupies a shoplot that local MP Teresa Kok said was let out to the party for free by a supporter.

It’s about legitimacy, not legality

When pointed out at a press conference later that the government is legally in power for five years since the parliament’s first sitting was on April 28, 2008, he dismissed it, saying that this was a question of legitimacy, not legality.

“(It is about) political morality,” he said, when pressed by reporters to quote relevant legislation to back his claims that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is an illegitimate occupant of the office.

He pointed that past prime ministers have called for polls soon after taking over from their predecessors, but Najib has not sought a fresh mandate since replacing Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2009.

This also means that current state governments that have not dissolved automatically are still legitimate, he said when asked, because they still enjoy the 2008 general election mandate.

Under Article 42(2)(a) of the federal constitution the prime minister is appointed by the Agong from among the members of parliament, whom he thinks is “likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House (of Representatives)”.

Similar provisions are also found in state constitutions in relation to the formation of state governments, but with the governor or sultan appointing them in place of the Agong.

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