KUALA LUMPUR – The government of a country belongs to the people and any change or transition must be done in a transparent manner without confusing its citizens, said Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIAM) Law lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Khairil Azmin Mokhtar.
He said that if there were any political party leader claiming to have the majority support to form a new government, then this too must be announced to the people.
“Don’t let it become a riddle, don’t try to fool the people, making them confused. If there is (a majority), tell it in a transparent manner, say who he is and which party he is from,” he said as a guest on Bernama TV talk show Ruang Bicara titled Survival Politik vs Survival Rakyat (Political Survival vs People’s Survival) Oct 13.
Earlier today, PKR chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the opposition leader, had an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah, during which he had informed the King that he had the majority support of more than 120 Members of Parliament to form the government.
Anwar, however, only presented the total number of Dewan Rakyat members whom he claimed supported him when he was granted an audience with the King at Istana Negara.
Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, in a statement from Istana Negara, said Anwar did not present the list of names of the Dewan Rakyat members to support his claim.
Khairil Azmin opined that there was no need for Al-Sultan Abdullah to call up the MPs, party leaders or even the prime minister for an audience to prove Anwar’s statement.
The lecturer said he viewed the matter based on Istana Negara’s own statement, which clearly showed that Anwar did not actually have solid evidence to prove his claim of support.
“I do not see the need for the King to call the prime minister at all because there is no evidence to convince any party that there is someone other than the current prime minister who has the support of the majority,” he said.
He said that politics was, among others, created to safeguard the well-being of the people and if party leaders only liked to play with ‘majority numbers’ as well as party-hopping issues, then indirectly attention to the needs of the people would also be reduced.
— BERNAMA
