.JPG "Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad shakes hands with senior officers at the Ministry of Defence in Kuala Lumpur February 21, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Ahmad Zamzahurinn")
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said a rumoured motion of no-confidence against him will allow Opposition party PAS to demonstrate its claim to back him as prime minister.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan previously pledged the party’s 18 MPs would back Dr Mahathir if such a vote reaches Parliament.
“I will wait la. If there is a no-confidence vote, I want to see if PAS will not support me,” he told reporters this morning during an official meet with the Defence Ministry (Mindef).
The Islamists made the pledge after alleging that two Pakatan Harapan (PH) components were conspiring to introduce a motion of no-confidence against DR Mahathir, but did not provide evidence of the assertion.
The party claimed to have learned of the alleged conspiracy, which prompted its leaders to discuss the matter with Dr Mahathir during a meet in Kuala Lumpur recently.
PH component leaders have rubbished the allegations, saying PAS fabricated these to shift attention away from the party's own furore over the RM90 million, purportedly received from Umno.
Amanah president Mohamad Sabu asserted the rumours were part of a larger effort to destabilise the PH government and to draw it away from efforts to prosper the country.
PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng have already rejected the claim as false and slanderous.
Lim assured that not a single component party had any plans to declare a vote of no-confidence against Dr Mahathir.
The finance minister said, in fact, it was PAS themselves who are opposed to Dr Mahathir's leadership and called on Takiyuddin to furnish evidence of the party's claims.
Anwar has also said PAS is using the issue as a ploy to distract attention from the real issue of PAS leaders receiving funds from Umno.
In democracies, a vote of no-confidence is called for lawmakers to demonstrate that the head of the government no longer commands the support of the majority he needs to govern. In Malaysia, this requires a simple majority of 112 votes from the 222-seat Parliament.
