Harapan: Speaker's 'appointment' black mark on democracy
The manner in which Azhar Azizan Harun took office as the Dewan Rakyat speaker had left a black mark on democracy, said Pakatan Harapan's secretariat today.
In a statement, the coalition said Azhar's appointment reflected executive interference in the legislature and democracy was now under threat.
The manner in which Azhar Azizan Harun took office as the Dewan Rakyat speaker had left a black mark on democracy, said Pakatan Harapan's secretariat today.
In a statement, the coalition said Azhar's (above) appointment reflected executive interference in the legislature and democracy was now under threat.
"We regret that the debate on (this historic) motion saw four participants, limited to 10 minutes each.
"Moreover... the (executive's) candidate for speaker was not voted on by the House," it added.
The coalition said that the incident last night had spurred them to work harder to restore the people's mandate.
Despite Harapan's disagreement over how the speaker was appointed, its MPs were participating in the Dewan Rakyat sitting as of this morning.
Azhar was appointed following the removal of former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Ariff Md Yusoff by means of a motion tabled by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin - a first for Malaysia, which is allowed by virtue of Article 57(2)(c).
Opposition MPs had argued that Azhar was nominated without a 14-day notice after a vacancy, which only occurred yesterday.
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