MARCH 12 — I refer to the piece Malaysians already chose by Jacqueline Ann Surin which appeared in this publication.
The writer has done an excellent job trying to hold up a flawed argument based on half-truths and biased views camouflaged as facts. Whatever basic knowledge she has on governments, is obviously inferior to her propensity to cherry-pick and create smokescreens.
Assuming the writer has voted before, I wonder if her ballot paper is different from the rest of Malaysians'? Does her ballot paper say which prime minister is she voting for? Or does it list down, like the rest of us, candidates aspiring for her votes in the legislature?
Assuming the Election Commission has never issued her with erroneous ballot papers throughout her voting history, then she should be aware that Malaysians NEVER had the chance to select a prime minister.
We do not have a presidential system, like the United States. We have a Constitutional Monarchy based on the Westminster system which we inherited from our colonial masters. Presuming a person of her standing is familiar with the Federal Constitution, she should know that it's the King's prerogative to appoint a PM whom he thinks enjoys the majority support of the Dewan Rakyat legislators.
How difficult is it to understand this simple concept? In case she doesn't, and for the benefit of those who were hoodwinked by her biased writings, this means that your MP will decide who to back as PM. Not you, the voter.
If your MP is from PAS and wants to back DAP's Seputeh lawmaker Teresa Kok as the prime minister, there's nothing you can do about it because that's the rule.
Yes, rules are there for a reason, get over it. Do you play basketball and, sensing your team is about to lose, say well, let's get rid of the basketball rules and change it to online game, Clash of Clans' rules? That'd be pandemonium if that happens.
The British made this rule and we have made no efforts to change it, save for some minor tweaks in our 63 years of nationhood. Anyone not happy with the first-past-the-post system can run for public office and attempt to change it, instead of whining about it in front of a computer.
But no serious politicians, not even from the opposition, has ever proposed to rewrite the rules upon which we select the leaders whom we put faith of the nation upon, in the past six decades. But if Jacqueline runs for public office on this pledge alone, I'd change my address and registers as a voter in whatever constituency she's contesting in, as she has my vote.
But for now, all she can do is to pester her MP to support a vote of no confidence against the eighth prime minister when the Dewan Rakyat convenes on May 18. That's how it works. Muhyiddin can test his legitimacy then.
In any case, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has conceded that it'd be futile to table the no-confidence vote now because the PM clearly has the numbers. Now, will Jacqueline, for consistency sake, put Dr Mahathir through the legitimacy test in the same fashion as she had asked of Muhyiddin?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
