KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― The Opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has been proven to be not an oathbreaker in its political truce with the government, DAP lawmaker Lim Guan Eng proclaimed today.
The Bagan MP said this has been proven by de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s clarification that the Opposition bloc’s rejection of the government motion to extend a controversial clause in a security legislation does not nullify its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
“It is very clear PH did not break the MoU, instead the Anti-Party Hopping Act will be tabled along with the amendment of the Federal Constitution on April 11, 2022.
“That is the main goal of the MoU. Well done!” Lim said in a statement on his Facebook account, congratulating the PH coalition.
The DAP is a component of the PH coalition, along with three other parties: PKR, Amanah and Sabah-based Upko.
Lim also called out several Umno senior leaders for accusing PH of breaching the MoU when the coalition voted against the extension of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in the Dewan Rakyat two days ago.
He named Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also Bagan Datuk MP, deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, secretary general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, and Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa who is also the Keterah MP.
Lim noted all had pressured Ismail Sabri who is also Umno vice-president to call for Parliament’s dissolution to pave the way for the 15th general election.
“They had better resign for spreading false news,” Lim said.
Yesterday, Wan Junaidi said that the MoU between the government and the Opposition bloc does not automatically end should any party violate Article 3.3 (b) of the MoU.
He was referring to Article 4.1 of the MoU that states should Article 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 be violated, it could amount to the truce being nullified.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who is also Seremban MP, defended PH’s decision not to support sub-section 4 (5), saying it had nothing to do with the MoU.
The Dewan Rakyat yesterday failed to approve a motion to extend the effective period of sub-section 4 (5) of Sosma for another five years.
The motion was rejected after the result of a bloc vote showed 86 MPs rejected the Sosma extension while 84 MPs supported its extension.
Another 50 MPs, including the whips of several parties, were absent from the Dewan Rakyat during the voting process.
* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
