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All eyes (well, almost) this morning in Malaysia are glued towards RTM 1, the government-owned TV station which will carry a live telecast of the proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat (the Lower House of Parliament) beginning 10am. This is because every Malaysian (for those who care, at least) is concerned or simply curious if Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) plan to move a motion on a vote of no-confidence on the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will materialise. And if it does (which is unlikely to be allowed by the Speaker for procedural reasons, though he is also a Sabahan), what happens next?
Those qualified to comment have already explained that procedure-wise, there was no way for the motion to be tabled, as a motion requires a 14-day notice, using the normal or 'long-cut' method. Even using the 'short-cut' method or emergency motion, it is still unlikely to be allowed as no notice was submitted to the Speaker's office by Friday, the last working day before today's sitting. For argument's sake, even if for whatever reason the Speaker allows the 'short-cut' method today, it is useless as this method, unlike the 'long-cut' one, does not require or result in a vote count.
I watched the live telecast just now. By the time the telecast was over at roughly 10.40am, there was still no sign of any emergency motion. As usual, the sitting began with a question-and-answer session which was supposed to last until 11.30am. Procedure-wise, however, either one of the two SAPP MPs may stand up at the end of the Q&A session just before other business of the day begins.
But since the live telecast is already over, I suppose we have to use other means to find out; like sms news alert, radio and TV news, Internet and, of course, blogs. After all, there is already a blogger in Parliament, remember? He is DAP MP from Penang, Jeff Ooi whose blog is Screenshots. He normally bring his notebook computer to Parliament and blogs from there, thanks to modern technology which allows mobile blogging using 3G. Hopefully he does the same thing today.
My say: In conclusion, as already explained by several quarters, procedure-wise there is no way for SAPP to table the motion today or even tomorrow. However, my guess is that in order not to be seen as chickening out or play-acting (SAPP is still in BN), either Eric Majimbun (Sepanggar MP) or Chua Soon Bui (Tawau MP) will stand stand up after the Q&A session and try to move an emergency motion on the spot even though no notice has been given. This is for record (as every word spoken in Parliament is recorded in the Hansard) and also to show the public that SAPP has kept its promise but its motion was disallowed by the Speaker! Ini politik bah ini. When this happens, SAPP may gain even more public symphathy, on top of the symphathy it has already gained from a large section of Sabahans since Yong Teck Lee dropped the bombshell last week. And of course, if and when SAPP is sacked from the BN, there will be even more symphathy from Sabahans and may be even some other Malaysians. After all, the Opposition controls one-third of Parliament and five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Whatever it is, let's not jump to conclusion. Let's just wait and see. As Sabah Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Datuk Sari Tan pointed out in the local Chinese papers today, we don't care who is the 'king' (what he meant is the government) but what is important is as long as there is peace in the country and people can make a living and have food to eat.
I want to check Jeff Ooi's screenshots now. A few other MPs also blog, especially those from the opposition. Somehow, they seem more tech-savvy. After all, it is believed that the Internet in general and blogs in particular played an important part in the recent election. This was something admitted to even by some government leaders including the new Information Minister who initiated a new weekly programme over RTM 1 whereby top Malaysian bloggers were given a chance to speak their mind. However, I have stopped watching the programme as the RTM guy conducting the interview seems to be biased which defeats the prupose of the programme itself. The Information Minister should take note of this, otherwise, his motive may be questioned.
Bye, thanks for visiting. Please come again. Remember, I just celebrated my 100th blog yesterday. Once again, thanks a million. (How I wish I had a million dollars!)
Those qualified to comment have already explained that procedure-wise, there was no way for the motion to be tabled, as a motion requires a 14-day notice, using the normal or 'long-cut' method. Even using the 'short-cut' method or emergency motion, it is still unlikely to be allowed as no notice was submitted to the Speaker's office by Friday, the last working day before today's sitting. For argument's sake, even if for whatever reason the Speaker allows the 'short-cut' method today, it is useless as this method, unlike the 'long-cut' one, does not require or result in a vote count.
I watched the live telecast just now. By the time the telecast was over at roughly 10.40am, there was still no sign of any emergency motion. As usual, the sitting began with a question-and-answer session which was supposed to last until 11.30am. Procedure-wise, however, either one of the two SAPP MPs may stand up at the end of the Q&A session just before other business of the day begins.
But since the live telecast is already over, I suppose we have to use other means to find out; like sms news alert, radio and TV news, Internet and, of course, blogs. After all, there is already a blogger in Parliament, remember? He is DAP MP from Penang, Jeff Ooi whose blog is Screenshots. He normally bring his notebook computer to Parliament and blogs from there, thanks to modern technology which allows mobile blogging using 3G. Hopefully he does the same thing today.
My say: In conclusion, as already explained by several quarters, procedure-wise there is no way for SAPP to table the motion today or even tomorrow. However, my guess is that in order not to be seen as chickening out or play-acting (SAPP is still in BN), either Eric Majimbun (Sepanggar MP) or Chua Soon Bui (Tawau MP) will stand stand up after the Q&A session and try to move an emergency motion on the spot even though no notice has been given. This is for record (as every word spoken in Parliament is recorded in the Hansard) and also to show the public that SAPP has kept its promise but its motion was disallowed by the Speaker! Ini politik bah ini. When this happens, SAPP may gain even more public symphathy, on top of the symphathy it has already gained from a large section of Sabahans since Yong Teck Lee dropped the bombshell last week. And of course, if and when SAPP is sacked from the BN, there will be even more symphathy from Sabahans and may be even some other Malaysians. After all, the Opposition controls one-third of Parliament and five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Whatever it is, let's not jump to conclusion. Let's just wait and see. As Sabah Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Datuk Sari Tan pointed out in the local Chinese papers today, we don't care who is the 'king' (what he meant is the government) but what is important is as long as there is peace in the country and people can make a living and have food to eat.
I want to check Jeff Ooi's screenshots now. A few other MPs also blog, especially those from the opposition. Somehow, they seem more tech-savvy. After all, it is believed that the Internet in general and blogs in particular played an important part in the recent election. This was something admitted to even by some government leaders including the new Information Minister who initiated a new weekly programme over RTM 1 whereby top Malaysian bloggers were given a chance to speak their mind. However, I have stopped watching the programme as the RTM guy conducting the interview seems to be biased which defeats the prupose of the programme itself. The Information Minister should take note of this, otherwise, his motive may be questioned.
Bye, thanks for visiting. Please come again. Remember, I just celebrated my 100th blog yesterday. Once again, thanks a million. (How I wish I had a million dollars!)
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