KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 ― Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia supports the method of a no-confidence motion tabled in Parliament should citizens want to change the government.

The Malay-language broadsheet also backed PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang who reportedly said the alliance between former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the opposition that aimed to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was pointless.

“Even if we want to change the government and party, according to Abdul Hadi, use proper democratic channels such as through the general elections or a no-confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat.

“If not, they’ll only be doing things in vain, but the ill effects will still be felt by the entire country,” Awang Selamat, Utusan Malaysia’s editorial voice, wrote in its opinion column today.

Abdul Hadi was reported to have said Monday that elections were the only democratic way to change a prime minister.

Malay daily Sinar Harian reported the chief of the Islamist opposition party as saying that a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister was largely dependent on Umno lawmakers as they comprised the majority, compared to PAS that merely has 14 MPs.

Najib assumed office after his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned a year after the 2008 general elections that saw Barisan Nasional coalition lose its two-thirds parliamentary  majority.