PARLIAMENT Veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has urged all lawmakers in the country to decide if they are willing to concede the powers of Parliament to “forces outside the House” and if they want to put party interests before public interests in their decision.

In a speech debating the royal address in Parliament today, Tengku Razaleigh, fondly known as Ku Li ( right ), said the MPs must make a decision at a “historic juncture” as Malaysia’s economic and political situations are in a “gridlock” and teetering on crisis.

“We must make a decision based on our conscience. This means we must be ready to reject a suggestion in this House if it is not in public’s interest,” he said, stressing that only Parliament has powers to solve the gridlock in the country.

He said that the powers of the House has moved to the leadership of political parties.

“This development is beyond the constitution. The shift of power to a certain individual is against the constitution. And this is definitely not a parliamentary democracy,” he said.

He said that the decision of the MPs whether to merely toe the party line or to fulfill the pledge they made when they took oath as MPs would become a “fundamental decision” for the people of Malaysia.