KUCHING: Santubong MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar suggested that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should dissolve Parliament to pave the way for a fresh general election.
He said the general election would be one way to resolve the controversial leadership transition should Dr Mahathir make way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to become the prime minister.
“It is better for the prime minister to seek an audience with the King to dissolve Parliament and seek a new mandate from the people,” Wan Junaidi told New Sarawak Tribune.
He added that Malaysia needed to be saved from the ineffective administration of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
The former federal minister under the Barisan Nasional (BN) was echoing opinions and criticisms by Malaysians who questioned the quality and capabilities of PH lawmakers who have been jostling for positions in the most unbecoming and embarrassing manner.
“I’ve not seen any good debate by any of them,” said Wan Junaidi.
To a question on who is a suitable candidate for the next prime minister after Mahathir steps down, he said the answer is pretty tricky.
He said the president of PKR, Anwar, was not a certain choice.
“PKR is in turmoil and could break right in the middle. If Anwar is not able to consolidate and unify his party, how is he going to garner the support of other MPs from various parties within PH, let alone the support of MPs outside PKR,” he said, adding that Anwar has got to put his house in order first.
Wan Junaidi observed that the overall performance of the PH government was very dismal and he could not find any good thing happening yet.
“Maybe it has been a little freer for dissenting voices outwardly, but there have been complaints from bloggers and Facebook users about their postings being blocked and filtered and their normal ‘hits’ substantially reduced by two-thirds or more unknowingly.”
Wan Junaidi also pointed out that foreign direct investment is not coming; the investments from China and Saudi Arabia have stopped, hindered or leaving.
Besides that, he said the KLSE is down by 31 points causing losses of RM400 billion and all the nation’s 11 sovereign funds lost money by one third or half, while assets are sold every day.
“All the promises of cheaper petroleum, free education, settlement of PTPN loans are among the bad dreams,” he said.
To Wan Junaidi, the departure of Dr Mahathir won’t promise a better administration unless the whole Cabinet steps down and replaced with more able ministers.
He said the present Cabinet ministers and their deputy ministers have no answer to global challenges, adding that the foreign policy must change too.
“The present prime minister is the same old one with old approaches and actions, but in the old days Wisma Putra was more ready and prepared to carry out damage control in case the prime minister slipped up,” he said.
Regarding some individuals within PH who have been pressuring Dr Mahathir to hand over the premiership to Anwar, Wan Junaidi said it was the prerogative of the Agong under Article 43(2)(a) to appoint the prime minister. The post is not the personal possession of any standing prime minister to hand over to another as he pleases.
“Therefore, it is not up to Dr Mahathir to name his successor. He cannot do that. The agreement on succession does not override the constitutional provision. The spirit and letters of the Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution gives the authority to appoint a prime minister to the Agong. Of course, Tun Dr Mahathir may nominate his successor, but the Agong is not bound by the agreement which does not override Article 43(2)(a),” he explained.
He said Article 43(2)(a) requires that the nominee “commands the support of the majority of the members of the Dewan Rakyat … and the Agong may ask the nominee to show evidence of the support.
