KOTA BARU, Dec 29 — To PAS the idea of appointing an interim Prime Minister as proposed by certain political parties should they win the 14th General Election (GE14), is unhealthy and unconstitutional.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the process of appointing the Prime Minister has already been set out in Article 43 of the Federal Constitution whereby the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is required to appoint a Cabinet to advise him in the exercise of his executive functions.
“The Yang di-Pertuan Agong must first appoint as Prime Minister a member of the Dewan Rakyat who in his opinion may have the confidence of the majority of the Dewan Rakyat members,” he said in a statement here today.
Takiyuddin said Article 40(2) allows the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to act on his own discretion in relation to the appointment of the Prime Minister without having to act in accordance with the advice of any party ie sole discretion in performing the function of appointing a Prime Minister.
He said based on the provisions, it was clear that after the GE14 the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could use this ‘special privilege’ to appoint one of the 222 members of the Parliament who in his judgement has the confidence of a majority of the Dewan Rakyat members.
It had been the practice in Malaysia that the Prime Minister would be appointed from among leaders of the party which has a majority of seats in parliament, he said.
He said in the event no one party won the majority or the number of seats still failed to form the government, PAS is of the opinion that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong would use his prerogative to choose someone from either the majority or minority party to be appointed as Prime Minister.
“Whatever the situation, having a ‘locum’ prime minister is not a good practice and is not reflective of a stable and strong government,” he said. — Bernama
