YOURSAY | ‘At a time of crisis, PAS looks as unreliable as ever.’
Rafizi slams PAS over ‘Turun Anwar’ ultimatum to back RCI
AGC’s RCI response further fuels ‘judicial crisis’ speculations – Rafizi
GP2025: This is typical topsy-turvy politics because our MPs haven’t yet learnt how to use their powers according to the rules of Parliament.
Firstly, this should be a multi-partisan effort as it is of national importance, and PAS shouldn’t be giving conditions but should seek to negotiate instead.
Here are some things to note:
1. If Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli wants to censure Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as a PKR party member, he shouldn’t involve the public. It becomes a party matter, and he should use party means to achieve his objective.
2. If, as an MP, Rafizi is calling on the government to conduct a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on Anwar’s alleged interference in judicial appointments, that’s ok.
But he must know that it puts the government in an awkward position, as how is the government headed by the prime minister going to approve an RCI to investigate its head?
Very likely, it would be denied. Also, an RCI’s results go to the King by virtue of it being a royal commission. If the King says no need for any action, nothing comes of it.
3. As an MP, Rafizi should know that, by law, Parliament empowers MPs to censure and remove a prime minister.
If the issue is taken to Parliament, neither the government nor the prime minister can decline debate on that issue.
If they refuse, it becomes apparent to all that the prime minister does not want to be accountable to the people. He will be in deep trouble. In the next elections, he will be out.
Not to risk being thrown out, and if he is a reformist as he claims to be, he will allow the debate. If there is evidence of interference, a confidence vote can be called. Parliament resolves the issue.
If Rafizi is serious, he will start negotiations with other quiet rebel MPs to call for a special parliamentary session on this issue and a confidence vote at the end.
If enough MPs call for it, the speaker will have no choice but to facilitate it, as he should.
MPs must always go to Parliament to solve issues.
Coward: Frankly, this confirms to us that PAS, and PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (above), still do not know what the real issue is, and they simply jump on the bandwagon, thinking they can exploit the issue.
If mature politics is what PAS wants, they have to field mature politicians. A mature politician will know that such a condition will not only earn the ridicule of the very people they try to attract, and give Rafizi the chance to attack them.
If the issue continues to ferment and Rafizi refuses to join the rally, PAS would have to come up with an explanation if it does a U-turn and wants to support the call.
Won’t that be yet another self-inflicted wound to avoid?
PurpleJaguar0553: I thought PAS would have learned by now that principles matter. Instead, they indulge in politics.
Do these fellas even realise the importance of an independent judiciary?
PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan should educate these guys, or the party should let its law professionals speak.
Otherwise, they come across as unprincipled politicians interested in politics for politics’ sake. At a time of crisis, PAS looks as unreliable as ever.
But at least they look prepared to do something, unlike DAP, whose silence is incomprehensible.
GanMu: It is such a relief that Rafizi is pursuing this case for the benefit of the public.
Anwar may not be an expert on the Constitution and legal matters, and comparatively, he does not have the credentials to question the chief justice and the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC)’s nomination of a new chief justice and judges.
They are the experts.
He cannot take advantage of this flaw in the process whereby the JAC’s powers are limited to making recommendations.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) statement reads, “the PM can’t be considered a mere conduit to accept recommendations from any quarters, but instead has a constitutional responsibility to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to protect the independence, credibility, and integrity (of the judiciary).”
The chief justice and JAC are not “any quarters” but the most appropriate and qualified authority to make the recommendations.
For all intents and purposes, the prime minister is a conduit and nothing else, until reforms are effected to remove his role in the appointment of judges.
Anwar must know that the chief justice and no one else has this onerous responsibility to protect the independence, credibility, and integrity of the judiciary.
What credentials does he have besides being the prime minister?
He should stop using the word “politicise” to further his case.
Anticonmen: MPs in Parliament must do their part to amend the JAC Act to remove control by the executive over the judiciary, to make it in line with the Federal Constitution’s principle of the rule of law.
Do your part MPs.
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